Hyundai Motor Group Invests 1.3 Trillion Won in Startups, Nurturing Mobility Ecosystem Growth

Hyundai Motor Group Open Innovation Tech Day
1.3 Trillion KRW Invested in Startups Over the Past 5 Years
Investment Philosophy: "Positive Change in Human Life Through Innovative Technology"
Expanding Investment and Nurturing Led by Overseas Cradle and Domestic Zero One

Hyundai Motor Group has disclosed its startup investment status and open innovation achievements. Over the past five years, Hyundai Motor Group has poured 1.3 trillion KRW into investments and reaffirmed its commitment to fostering the global startup ecosystem going forward.

On the 15th, Hyundai Motor Group held the 'Hyundai Motor Open Innovation Tech Day' event at Hotel Naru Seoul M Gallery in Mapo-gu, Seoul. At the event, the group announced its co-prosperity strategy with the startup ecosystem, its open innovation achievements to date, and its startup collaboration system.

From 2017 to the first quarter of this year, Hyundai Motor Group invested 1.3 trillion KRW in over 200 startups. This figure excludes large-scale overseas investments such as Boston Dynamics, Motional, and Supernal. Notably, more than half of the total investment (753.7 billion KRW) was allocated to the mobility service sector. This was followed by electrification (281.8 billion KRW), connectivity (126.2 billion KRW), artificial intelligence (60 billion KRW), autonomous driving (54 billion KRW), and energy including hydrogen (25.3 billion KRW).

Hyundai Motor Group disclosed the investment amounts in startups by Hyundai Motor and Kia across different sectors at the Open Innovation Tech Day event held on the 15th. (Based on data from 2017 to the first quarter of 2023) [Source: Hyundai Motor Group]

The investment philosophy is simple: to find companies that can bring positive changes to human life through innovative technologies and services. Investments are broadly classified into four categories: company building to directly start businesses in technology and business areas needed by Hyundai Motor Group; sensing investments to understand trends in new growth business areas; strategic investments to quickly secure business capabilities; and linked investments to pursue actual collaboration expecting synergy effects.

To discover promising startups worldwide, Hyundai Motor Group operates innovation hubs called 'CRADLE' in five countries: the United States, Germany, Israel, China, and Singapore. Domestically, it established 'ZER01NE' as an open innovation hub. The group also runs an in-house startup program for employees. So far, a total of 30 startups have spun off, employing over 800 new personnel.

At the event, Hyundai Motor Group showcased key technologies of five startups it is collaborating with: Mobin, a last-mile delivery robot company; Mobiltech, which possesses immersive digital twin technology; Metaverse Entertainment, a metaverse content service producer; Viewmagine, a construction site safety and quality inspection solution provider combining autonomous flying drones and AI vision technology; and Applause, an AI-based personalized music selection and playback service provider.

Successful overseas startup investment cases mentioned include Ionity and Rimac. Ionity is a European ultra-fast electric vehicle charging infrastructure company in which Hyundai Motor Group has equity investment. Hyundai offers Ioniq 5 customers a premium package that allows free use of Ionity charging facilities for one year. Rimac, a high-performance electric vehicle company, has recently grown rapidly to a corporate value of 2.2 billion euros. It is evaluated to have contributed to advancing high-performance electric vehicle technology through joint projects with Hyundai Motor and Kia.

Hwang Yoon-sung, Executive Director of Hyundai Motor and Kia Open Innovation Promotion Office, said, "Hyundai Motor Group will create new value and competitiveness together with startup partners to lead the mobility industry," adding, "We will provide nurturing and collaboration programs tailored to the growth stages of startups."

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