GS Chairman Heo Tae-soo: "Let's Not Only Invest in Startups but Also Create New Businesses"

Second 'New Business Sharing Meeting' Since Group Foundation
Sharing Investment Status in Growth Areas Such as Decarbonization
33 Startups and 7 Venture Funds Invested in the Past Year

GS Chairman Heo Tae-soo on the 30th stated, "It is now time to move beyond the venture investment stage and concretize the venture network technologies we have discovered so far into new businesses that will lead future markets," urging an active drive for new business initiatives.

At the 'New Business Sharing Meeting,' held for the second time since the group's founding, Chairman Heo said, "The technologies possessed by startups are truly the game changers of future industries." He introduced technologies from global decarbonization startups he discovered during his business trip and urged the heads of new business divisions at each company to pay close attention to technological advancements.

The sharing meeting, held at the GS Caltex Talent Development Center in Gapyeong-gun, Gyeonggi Province, was attended by about 60 key personnel, including CEOs of major GS affiliates such as GS President Hong Soon-ki, GS Caltex President Heo Se-hong, and GS Energy President Heo Yong-soo, as well as executives in charge of new businesses. They discussed detailed new business strategies across future growth sectors throughout the day without time restrictions.

They also discussed ways to connect the technologies held by each invested company and nurture them into concrete businesses. GS explained, "This means that the steady venture investments over the past three years have begun to enter the stage of concrete new business build-up."

At the GS New Business Report Meeting held on September 7 last year in Pocheon-si, Gyeonggi Province, Chairman Heo Tae-soo is seen giving feedback on the presentation materials.
[Photo by GS]

Participants shared cases where GS's venture investments are linked to new businesses such as electric vehicle (EV) charging, waste plastic and battery recycling, and industrial bio.

GS Energy took its first step into the EV charger market in 2021 through a joint investment in Gconnect. By acquiring additional shares, it launched GS Connect and, after acquiring Chargebee, became the number one operator with about 40,000 slow chargers nationwide.

Regarding the EV charging new business, the ventures GS invested in include ▲'Relictrify,' which possesses technology to improve electric vehicle charging efficiency ▲'AutoGrid,' which analyzes energy usage big data ▲'Scala Data,' which operates the integrated mobile service app for EV charging called Modu-ui Chungjeon ▲'EVAR,' which has autonomous EV charging robot technology ▲and 'Haezoom,' which has power brokerage and virtual power plant technology.

GS has also started a waste battery recycling business. GS invested in Mitrachem (battery material development), Green Lion (waste battery recycling equipment development), and Eco R&S (eco-friendly solutions for waste battery recycling). GS Energy established a joint venture, POSCO GS Eco Materials, with POSCO. GS Construction is promoting the construction of a waste battery recycling plant. GS stated, "When combined with the gas station platform and light maintenance infrastructure held by GS Caltex and GS M-Biz, a powerful new business model in the battery recycling market is expected to be completed."

GS is also focusing on the bio business. GS plans to mass-produce eco-friendly bio materials by combining synthetic bio technology startups with GS Caltex's commercial production capabilities. To this end, GS invested in startups such as Geltor, which has high-efficiency synthetic protein manufacturing technology; Zymochem, which optimizes metabolic pathways for biochemical production; Capra Bioscience, which has continuous production process technology using biofilms; and Ferment, a bio-specialized incubating fund.

Since Chairman Heo Tae-soo took office, the GS Group has actively engaged in venture investments. In 2020, GS declared "future growth with startup ventures" as its new business strategy. Even during the past year, which was called a venture market winter, GS invested more than 150 billion KRW in a total of 33 startups and 7 venture funds.

On April 6th, at the GS Tower in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Chairman Heo Tae-soo (center) attentively listened to a startup investor presentation at the 1st 'GS Day'.
[Photo by GS]

CVCs (Corporate Venture Capitals) such as GS Futures and GS Ventures serve as radar roles at the forefront to detect industry and new technology trends. GS Futures, based in San Francisco, USA, discovers new technologies to integrate with GS Group's new businesses through the North American region, while GS Ventures focuses on the Asian venture market centered on Korea. This year, GS Futures invested in 15 companies, including Mitrachem, a next-generation LFP battery developer, and GS Ventures invested in 16 startups within one year of establishing its venture fund last year.

They focus investments on startups that can be integrated into existing businesses and developed into new businesses. GS Caltex invested in 'GET,' a startup related to waste plastic collection, and GS Energy invested in 'EVCC,' known for waste battery material extraction technology, while discussing related new businesses. GS Retail invested in Robross, which manufactures humanoid robots, and GS Construction invested in ClearStory, which has housing construction software technology.

The investment ratio is highest in the climate change (ClimateTech) sector startups and venture funds related to battery and decarbonization technologies at 48.8%. The industrial bio (Bio) sector, which produces fuel or plastic materials from eco-friendly raw materials, accounts for 29.3%, while investments in enabling technologies (Enabling Tech) and circular economy sectors are 6.6% and 5.9%, respectively.

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