SK Telecom will join forces with Hyundai Motor Company, Hanwha Asset Management and Element AI to form a fund that will invest in startups with innovative technology and ideas worldwide.
The fund, named AI Alliance Fund, will be established in the first quarter of next year with an initial investment of 50 billion won ($45.6 million).
The AI Alliance Fund will invest in startups specialized in artificial intelligence, smart mobility and FinTech in Europe, Israel and the United States. The fund will focus on equity investment in emerging startups with the next generation technology and innovative business models.
The fund intends to leverage the research capabilities and the global network of Element AI, an AI solutions provider founded by Yoshua Bengio, a professor of the University of Montreal, when analyzing potential AI investment opportunities.
The Korean firms expect to be able to benefit from the synergy created by their respective expertise in the areas of artificial intelligence, automotive and financial networks.
SK Telecom previously launched South Korea’s first AI service NUGU and extending the AI capability to its automotive navigation system application T-map. Hyundai Motor Company opened the CRADLE, an innovation hub in Silicon Valley to seek opportunities for investment in future technology, analysis of new business and technology model and collaboration with new partners.
Hanwha Asset Management has been exploring potential investment opportunities in the convergence of industrial technology. In addition, based on FinTech, Hanwha seeks to introduce new financial technologies to upgrade its internal capacity and utilize them as its new growth engine.
First published in Enterprise Innovation