LG Electronics will invest US$60 million in AI-based autonomous service robot startup Bear Robotics based in Silicon Valley of the United States.
LG Electronics announced on March 12 that it has entered into a share subscription agreement to invest US$60 million in Bear Robotics to acquire a stake in the company. Upon closing the deal, LG Electronics will become the largest single shareholder of Bear Robotics. The equity investment is not a financial investment for short-term gains, but a strategic one to diversify its business portfolio, according to LG Electronics.
Founded in 2017, Bear Robotics is a company that develops and supplies AI-based autonomous robot platforms. The startup is led by CEO Ha Jung-woo, a former Google software engineer. Its main product is an indoor delivery robot.
LG Electronics said it decided to invest in the company because it believed a new paradigm of commercial robotics will AI-based software, not hardware.
Samsung Electronics has also been expanding its R&D and investment in robotics as one of its future growth drivers. Last year, it bought a 14.83 percent stake in Rainbow Robotics for 87 billion won (US$66 million). Rainbow Robotics is the first Korean company to develop a humanoid bipedal robot, Hubo. Recently, Samsung Electronics took the wraps off Ballie, a pet robot with generative artificial intelligence.
The global AI robotics market is expected to grow from US$95.6 billion in 2021 to US$1,847.5 billion in 2030, enjoying an annual growth rate of 30 percent, global market research firm Next MSC forecast.