LG Uplus, Qualcomm join hands to help startups

By Lee Min-hyung

LG Uplus, the nation’s third-largest mobile carrier, has teamed up with Qualcomm to help local startups focus on the Internet of Things (IoT).

The U.S.-based mobile chip giant will provide $100,000 (119 million won) for each startup which the mobile carrier picks from its innovation center, LG Uplus said Wednesday.

“Both companies agreed to help startups not just to develop IoT-related technologies, but to commercialize them,” said an LG Uplus spokeswoman.

She said Qualcomm offered to fund innovative ideas submitted by startups or small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) at Uplus’ long-term evolution (LTE) innovation center.

“We will expand our investment on developing new technologies including LTE-based robots amid the era of the Internet of Things (IoT),” the company said in a statement.

Suh Jae-yong, general manager at Uplus’ IoT service development team, said the company will keep a win-win approach to attract more global companies to establish the IoT-based ecosystem. He added the company is also planning to expand its efforts to find more innovative companies at the LTE innovation center.

This is not the first time that Qualcomm has invested in Korean companies.

The U.S. chip maker has been making investments in the nation’s various sectors including mobile applications and enterprise software for the past four years.

Last year, LG Uplus developed an LTE-based drone with augmented reality solution company, ARwoks, with the help of Qualcomm’s funding. The company then donated it to the Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS).