Samsung supports 1,000 startups, helping attract 2.2 tln won in investment

By Kim Han-joo

SEOUL, Nov. 10 (Yonhap) -- Samsung Electronics Co. said Tuesday it has supported 1,000 startups, helping attract a cumulative 2.2 trillion won (US$1.6 billion) in investment.

Notably, the South Korean tech giant selects promising entrepreneurs and startups for its C-Lab initiative, choosing 30 companies this year, the company said.

Of the selected startups, 15 are currently conducting technology verification projects with Samsung Electronics, with the company seeking to identify further opportunities for business collaborations.

Twelve of the startups are based outside the Seoul metropolitan area, Samsung said.

Samsung has operated regional C-Lab hubs in the central city of Daegu and the southwestern city of Gwangju since 2023 to foster regional economic development.

At an event held Tuesday at its R&D center in southern Seoul, representatives from six startups took the stage to share their growth stories and examples of business collaboration.

One of the startups was Config Intelligence Inc., a two-year-old startup, is developing data technologies to train and deploy artificial intelligence (AI) systems for robots.

The company has attracted more than 50 billion won in cumulative investment and is estimated to be valued at more than 300 billion won.

It operates data factories in Seoul and Hanoi, where more than 1,000 workers collect up to 150,000 hours of data using more than 30 robots across at least 10 different types, providing data essential for training and improving robotic AI systems.

khj@yna.co.kr
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