Startups Fostered by Hyundai Motor Group became Game Changers

The world's first four-wheeled robot that can freely climb stairs, a drone managing Lotte World Tower, the tallest building in Korea, and an AI-based music service platform are all products of startups that Hyundai Motor Group has invested in.

The Hyundai Motor Group announced on June 15 that it has invested a total of 1.3 trillion won (US$1.2 billion) into domestic and foreign startups in various fields such as mobility and artificial intelligence from 2017 until the first quarter of this year. This significant investment in startups exceeds 1 trillion won (US$900 million), excluding large-scale overseas investments like Boston Dynamics, a robotics subsidiary; Motional, an autonomous driving joint venture; and Supernal, an urban air mobility (UAM) independent corporation.

Hyundai Motor Group held an event titled Hyundai Motor Group Open Innovation Tech Day at Hotel Naru Seoul M Gallery in the Mapo district of Seoul on June 15. Based on the investment amount, the mobility field received the most funding with 753.7 billion won (US$676 million), followed by electrification (281.8 billion won or US$220.9 million), connectivity (126.2 billion won or US$89.94 million), AI (60 billion won or US$47 million), autonomous driving (54 billion won US$42 million), and energy (25.3 billion won or US$19.8 million).

Domestic AI solution company for manufacturing MakinaRocks, and Ionity, a high-speed electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure company based in Europe, are among the representative investment success stories. As of the end of last year, Ionity has completed the construction of approximately 450 charging stations in 24 European countries and installed about 2,000 high-speed chargers. Rimac Automobili, a Croatian high-performance EV company that received investment in in 2019, has recently grown exponentially, reaching a company value of 2.2 billion euros (approximately 3.574 trillion won or US$2.4 billion).

Startups currently being eyed by Hyundai Motor Group are in the fields of Software-Defined Vehicles (SDV), resource recycling, low carbon, semiconductors, artificial intelligence, and quantum technology.

ZER01NE, established in 2018, has taken on a central role in startup investment. In addition, through innovation bases named CRADLE in five countries – the United States, Germany, Israel, China, and Singapore – a total of 19 startup investment funds are in operation.

Hwang Yun-seong, executive of Hyundai-Kia open innovation promotion, said, “We are discovering global startups that can maximize synergy with the Hyundai Motor Group and are strengthening strategic collaborations through strategic investment, joint venture investment, and mergers and acquisitions.”