POSCO Seeks Hydrogen, Battery, and New Material Startups in Silicon Valley

Collaboration with US Silicon Valley's 'Plug and Play' to Discover Startups
Hydrogen Storage Devices, Mobility, and New Materials Are Key Interests
Proactive Change in Venture and Startup Investment Since Choi Jung-woo's Appointment

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] POSCO Group has begun discovering startups with innovative technologies in Silicon Valley, USA. This project is led by the newly established Industry-Academia-Research Cooperation Office after Chairman Choi Jung-woo's inauguration, and is interpreted as a strategy to strengthen technological cooperation for new business and achieving carbon neutrality goals through investments in innovative startups in the hydrogen, battery, and new materials sectors.

According to the business and investment banking (IB) industries on the 21st, POSCO's Industry-Academia-Research Cooperation Office Venture Fund Group has formed a partnership with 'Plug and Play' (PnP), the largest investment firm in Silicon Valley. As part of this, two people have been dispatched to work at the Plug and Play headquarters.

Plug and Play is a well-known accelerator that invested early in startups of global companies such as Google, PayPal, and Dropbox. Its Seoul branch was established in April this year and is investing in startups together with major domestic companies like LG.

The startups POSCO is focusing on are in the hydrogen, battery, and new materials fields. An IB industry official said, "For hydrogen, we are interested in hydrogen storage devices; for batteries, the entire mobility sector; and for new materials, from battery materials to metals. There is a will to combine POSCO's world-class research and development (R&D) capabilities with global innovative technologies."

POSCO's history of investing in startups spans 10 years. Since 2011, it has operated the Idea Marketplace (IMP) supporting startups and early venture companies, investing 23.6 billion KRW in venture companies. The partnership with Plug and Play is meaningful in that it expands the existing approach focused on practicing 'corporate citizenship' by supporting ventures and startups domestically to increase youth employment, to directly discovering startups locally in Silicon Valley. This change has appeared since Chairman Choi's inauguration.

After Chairman Choi took office in 2018, POSCO established the Industry-Academia-Research Cooperation Office to expand and discover startups. Subsequently, in 2020, it opened the startup incubating space 'Changeup Ground' in Seoul, and in July this year, another in Pohang. The Industry-Academia-Research Cooperation Office is also the entity discovering Silicon Valley startups through the partnership with Plug and Play.

All the fields mainly reviewed by the Industry-Academia-Research Cooperation Office are related to POSCO's new businesses. Since his inauguration, Chairman Choi has been fostering battery materials and energy as new growth engines. Electric vehicle battery materials are a fiercely competitive field recently, especially with new materials like silicon-based anodes, and POSCO Chemical, a POSCO group company, is increasing its market presence through the production of cathode and anode materials. Hydrogen is a key topic POSCO is fully committed to under ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) management.

A venture capital industry official said, "Along with Hyundai Motor, LG, SK, and GS, POSCO is also a company with great interest in discovering and investing in startups," adding, "Recently, it has been actively investing in startups with innovative technologies beyond simple support."

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