LG Elec to launch new business with startup: LG NOVA head

SAN FRANCISCO – LG Electronics Inc. will set up a new business entity focusing on some of its new growth pillars — digital healthcare, clean tech and artificial intelligence — in partnership with promising startups, said the South Korean electronics giant’s venture capital head.  

“LG Electronics will launch a new entity in a few months,” Rhee Sokwoo, the head of LG NOVA and senior vice president for innovation at LG Electronics, told reporters on Wednesday during the LG NOVA Innovation Festival 2023, the two-day startup and VC event that opened in San Francisco the same day.

Rhee did not elaborate on details of the new business, such as its sector or launch date, but said the company is actively exploring new business in healthcare, clean tech and AI, where LG Electronics has not yet set foot.

LG Group, Korea’s fourth-largest conglomerate controlling more than 10 affiliates including LG Electronics, has designated bio, clean and AI technologies as its next growth drivers.

The electronics unit, which seeks to transform from an appliance giant into a platform company, also announced in August a plan to invest more than $100 million in a global startup fund with global investment firm Clearbrook LLC by 2024, to unearth promising technologies in sustainable energy, digital health, AI and future industries.

JV WITH A STARTUP

The new entity will be a joint venture between LG and a startup, said Rhee.

“We have been seeking to venture into a new business in collaboration with startups and investors over the past two years,” said Rhee. “We have nearly completed the process to launch this entity.”

The LG NOVA head expresses high hopes for the new JV with a startup.

“LG has a track record of successful partnerships with outside companies such as Philips and Magna International,” said Rhee. “The JV with a startup also has great potential for success.”

LG partnered with Philips in the past to advance its display technology, and in 2021 it launched an electric vehicle parts and solution JV with Magna International, called LG-Magna e-Powertrain.

Startups partnering with LG for new businesses will receive investment and share the profits from running the business together, Rhee said, adding that they will be able to tap funds from Clearbrook.

LG NOVA ON THE FRONT LINE

LG NOVA is LG Electronics’ North American Center for Innovation, which is the Korean electronics giant’s venture capital and startup incubating organization founded in Silicon Valley in 2020.

It is hosting the LG NOVA Innovation Festival for the third year in a row and cherry-picked 50 startups from the previous two events, from a candidate list of 4,000, for investment and partnership.  

This year’s event, which ended on Thursday, attracted some 500 guests mainly from startups and VCs.

Startups in the digital healthcare, clean tech and AI technology areas garnered the most interest at this year’s event, according to the company.

Write to Jin-seok Choi at iskra@hankyung.com
Sookyung Seo edited this article.