Texas Instruments Inc. head of corporate development, Jean-Louis Trochu, spoke up about the company's venture investment in a report by Dallas News.

Dallas-based 7-Eleven participated in a panel discussion with Trochu about a capital venture with the corporation. The meeting was held last Thursday at the Southern Methodist University, Southwest Venture Forum. 7-Eleven and Texas Instruments talked about the history of venture investments, its structuration, results and objectives.

Texas Instruments in Dallas had long been active in activities concerning corporate venture capital. TI had invested in traditional venture capital firms and technology start-up companies for decades.

TI spokeswoman Whitney Jodry stated, "We view the corporate venture program as one of the tools TI has at its disposal to foster innovation while building strategic relationships with a few start-up companies. Our program is very modest in size when compared with, for example, the programs of Intel or Google, hence, our approach is very selective and targeted."