Seoul City Attracts 'Plug and Play,' Largest Silicon Valley Investor, to Establish Seoul Branch

Seo Jeong-hyeop Acting Mayor - Side Amidi Chairman, Online Dialogue at 'LIVE CES Seoul' on 12th
Full-Scale Investment in Promising Startups Related to 'Smart City'

Seo Jeong-hyeop, Acting Mayor of Seoul (right in the photo), is having a conversation with Side Amidi, Chairman of the global accelerator Plug and Play.

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] The Seoul Metropolitan Government has attracted the Seoul branch of 'Plug and Play (PnP)', the largest global investment firm in Silicon Valley, USA, which has nurtured global innovative companies such as Google and PayPal.

Seo Jeong-hyeop, Acting Mayor of Seoul, and Saeed Amidi, Chairman of PnP, held an online discussion at the Seoul Pavilion of 'CES 2021', the world's largest home appliance and ICT exhibition, which opened on the 11th (local time in the US), and officially announced the establishment of the PnP Seoul branch on the morning of the 12th, Korean time.

PnP, a startup investment firm and accelerator, invested in 250 companies worldwide in 2019 alone, and has invested an average of 30 million dollars annually over the past three years. Previously, Seoul City and PnP signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in Silicon Valley, USA, in January last year, promising active cooperation for the establishment of the Seoul branch, overseas expansion of promising Seoul startups, and the development of Seoul's startup ecosystem. Following this, discussions were intensified and the establishment of the Seoul branch was finally confirmed in April this year.

After establishing the PnP Seoul branch, the city plans to actively cooperate particularly in the 'smart city' sector and jointly invest in promising startups. Acting Mayor Seo emphasized in the discussion with Chairman Amidi, "We are very pleased that PnP, which leads global venture capital and is the most exemplary, is establishing a branch in Seoul," and added, "We will actively support PnP to fully demonstrate its investment and incubation capabilities."

Acting Mayor Seo also met virtually with Gary Shapiro, Chairman of the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), the organizer of CES, to present key points of this year's event, which is held online for the first time in CES history, and to explore various ways to strengthen cooperation between Seoul City and CTA. Gary Shapiro mentioned 'Algocare (smart medication management solution)' and 'NubeeLab (AI food scanner)', both participating companies in the Seoul Pavilion and recipients of this year's CES Innovation Awards, expressing, "I was deeply impressed by Seoul's excellent innovative companies."

Acting Mayor Seo promised, "A smart city is a vast platform that improves various problems faced by the city by utilizing digital technology together with citizens and companies. The city will connect companies and the public, provide institutional and financial support so that Seoul can become a testbed for new solutions, and, taking advantage of CES, will provide side support for Seoul's promising innovative companies to expand overseas."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.