Samsung Details Investment Strategy At Third Annual CEO Summit In San Francisco
SamsungSamsung Electronics president and Chief Strategy Officer Young Sohn is spearheading the Korean conglomerate innovation and strategic investment efforts. He's also the Chairman of the Board of Harmann International, acquired this year for $8 billion, and the main keynote at this year's Samsung CEO Summit.
At Samsung's third annual CEO Summit, that is happening today in San Francisco, South Korea's largest conglomerate is sharing its vision on how it addresses investing, both in startups and large companies, in areas such as digital health, automotive, robotics and the Internet of Things (IoT).
"We're bringing all of Samsung's investment teams together at this event," told me Shankar Chandran, the head of the Samsung Catalyst fund which invests in early-stage startups (seeds and series A), in a phone call conversation ahead of the event. "We want to show the portfolio of our 3 investment teams (Catalyst, NEXT and Samsung Ventures) and bring together key partners of the innovation ecosystem, including venture capitalists, because all our investments are syndicated, and entrepreneurs, as well as companies that we haven't invested in but that we think could be potential target in the future. And this is no different than what other independent venture firms do like Khosla Ventures or Kleiner Perkins who also have their own CEO summits bringing together their ecosystem."
Samsung is one of the most active corporate investors, along with Google and Intel
More than 400 attendees have registered for the invite-only invent, including 150 venture capitalists from Silicon the Valley, over 50 portfolio CEOs from around the world, more than 50 startups in the areas of artificial intelligence (AI), digital health, IoT and data infrastructure, over 100 executives from large companies and 50 Samsung top executives.
"Overall, Samsung is investing $200 million a year in about 60 startups (small and large) which is about in the same ballpark than GV (Google Ventures) or Intel Capital," added Chandran.
In terms of general investment trends, Samsung has identified AI and smart car as the 2 overhyped categories in the market today, with crazy valuations. "The good thing is that we're focused on early stage (seed stage and Series A) and we tend to be on the right side of the market because we're investing in forming companies that are then benefiting from those valuations swings," said Chandran.
Some of the startups that are showcasing their technology include 8i, Afero, Dataguise, Keyssa, Nomiku, Pluto TV, Plume, Ring and LVL Technologies.
">SamsungSamsung Electronics president and Chief Strategy Officer Young Sohn is spearheading the Korean conglomerate innovation and strategic investment efforts. He's also the Chairman of the Board of Harmann International, acquired this year for $8 billion, and the main keynote at this year's Samsung CEO Summit.
At Samsung's third annual CEO Summit, that is happening today in San Francisco, South Korea's largest conglomerate is sharing its vision on how it addresses investing, both in startups and large companies, in areas such as digital health, automotive, robotics and the Internet of Things (IoT).
"We're bringing all of Samsung's investment teams together at this event," told me Shankar Chandran, the head of the Samsung Catalyst fund which invests in early-stage startups (seeds and series A), in a phone call conversation ahead of the event. "We want to show the portfolio of our 3 investment teams (Catalyst, NEXT and Samsung Ventures) and bring together key partners of the innovation ecosystem, including venture capitalists, because all our investments are syndicated, and entrepreneurs, as well as companies that we haven't invested in but that we think could be potential target in the future. And this is no different than what other independent venture firms do like Khosla Ventures or Kleiner Perkins who also have their own CEO summits bringing together their ecosystem."
Samsung is one of the most active corporate investors, along with Google and Intel
More than 400 attendees have registered for the invite-only invent, including 150 venture capitalists from Silicon the Valley, over 50 portfolio CEOs from around the world, more than 50 startups in the areas of artificial intelligence (AI), digital health, IoT and data infrastructure, over 100 executives from large companies and 50 Samsung top executives.
"Overall, Samsung is investing $200 million a year in about 60 startups (small and large) which is about in the same ballpark than GV (Google Ventures) or Intel Capital," added Chandran.
In terms of general investment trends, Samsung has identified AI and smart car as the 2 overhyped categories in the market today, with crazy valuations. "The good thing is that we're focused on early stage (seed stage and Series A) and we tend to be on the right side of the market because we're investing in forming companies that are then benefiting from those valuations swings," said Chandran.
Some of the startups that are showcasing their technology include 8i, Afero, Dataguise, Keyssa, Nomiku, Pluto TV, Plume, Ring and LVL Technologies.
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