Samsung Venture Investment Corporation (SVIC) announced on Wednesday (July 10) an $8.5 million investment in four technology startups based in India, with plans to invest in over 100 additional startups over the next three to five years in the country.
The tech firms backed by the investment include systems app company OSLabs, speech technology startup Gnani.ai, IoT solutions provider Silvan Innovation Labs and a computer vision startup in its early stages. In terms of the OSLabs investment, De said that its suite of mobile apps are now available in Samsung’s Galaxy Store.
According to Aloknath De, corporate vice president and chief technology officer at Samsung R&D Institute in Bengaluru, SVIC focuses its tech investments on early stage and growth-stage Indian startups in India. He also highlighted the importance of investing in the quickly growing deep-tech market.
De noted that Samsung plans to assist these startups with UX support, tech validation and go-to-market.
Samsung and the various startups anticipate a long and mutually beneficial relationship moving forward. “This will be a win-win for both, as it will help startups scale their solutions … while we get an opportunity to enrich offerings to our customers,” De said.
Samsung Venture made headlines earlier this year when Montreal-based mobile payment platform Mobeewave announced that the venture capital firm had joined its investment ranks, bring their year-to-date investment total to nearly $20 million.
SVIC is a private venture capital firm that specializes in seed investment for early-stage startups around the world. The company focuses on consumer electronics, displays, information and communication, software, internet, telecommunications and more.