Korean tech companies partner with startups

Major information technology companies are increasingly partnering with small—and medium-sized startups to build industry ecosystems. This move apparently reflects their intention to expand the market by combining large companies' infrastructure with startups' innovative ideas.

Kakao Mobility announced Sunday that it has operated 'Nemoride' jointly with self-driving deep-tech startup 'Rideflux' in the Jeju Advanced Science and Technology Complex since last month. Nemoride is an autonomous vehicle operating on an 11.7-kilometer stretch of road, including the Science and Technology Complex and Jeju National University's Ara Campus. It was introduced to solve the problem of lack of public transportation and severe traffic congestion there.

Kakao Mobility is also trying to expand its ecosystem by acquiring RS Solution, an integrated parking facility management solution provider. After acquiring RS Solution, the company provided its parking control software to other small—and medium-sized parking facility operators for free, which has led to an increase in the number of parking lot users.

Naver is also actively investing in and collaborating with startups. In particular, it is expanding its cooperation with artificial intelligence (AI) startups. When unveiling its first AI, HyperCLOVA X, in August last year, the leading IT company first provided application program interfaces (APIs) to 20 startups to enable them to build their services.

Among telecom companies, KT opened the KT Pangyo Open Innovation Center at the 2nd Pangyo Techno Valley last month to support ventures and startups with promising technologies and collaborate on business. The center will provide office space, welfare facilities, and opportunities to participate in venture incubation and business cooperation programs to 12 selected companies with technology capabilities in eight promising fields, including AI, cloud, mobility, and quantum computing.


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