LG Electronics supports its members in discovering ideas that drive challenges and changes and turning these into new business ventures.
LG Electronics announced on the 17th that it has completed the selection of 12 teams that will participate in the second season of its startup incubation program, "STUDIO341." "STUDIO341" is a program aimed at discovering and nurturing startups that inherit the "DNA of challenge and change" from the founding of LG Electronics' predecessor, Geumseongsa.
From last month for a month, an idea competition targeting domestic employees and a review by the external accelerating company, Bluepointpartners, were conducted. The internal competition ratio reached 11.8 to 1.
The ideas of the selected teams focused mainly on artificial intelligence (AI), clean technology, mobility, and robotics. Representative examples include an AI-based intellectual property (IP) distribution platform, large-capacity battery thermal control materials and solutions applicable to electric vehicles and energy storage systems (ESS), a circular clothing platform to address clothing waste issues, and a delivery packaging automation solution.
LG Electronics plans to closely nurture the innovative ideas proposed by these teams to help them lead to commercialization, ultimately selecting up to five teams with the highest potential for commercialization in October. The selected teams will be provided with separate workspace and will be insulated from everyday operations to focus on solidifying their business plans. Following an investor demonstration day planned for early next year, LG Electronics and Bluepointpartners will co-support teams that successfully spin off with up to 400 million won per team.
Additionally, after the spin-off, it will provide follow-up management programs to support business stabilization. In particular, it will aim to create synergies with new businesses that LG Electronics is pursuing, such as AI Home, AI-based automation solutions, mobility, media content, and wellness.
In the first season conducted until last year, five startups successfully spun off and are currently continuing their business development independently. The five companies spun off in the first season had an average company value recognized at more than five times within a year.
Starting this year, LG Electronics has expanded the "STUDIO341" program to external startups. It plans to collaborate with the Korea Institute of Startup and Entrepreneurship Development (KISED) in the wellness solutions field, which can provide new experiences to customers in conjunction with "LG ThinQ," used by over 100 million users, and digital content that can be installed on webOS, which has over 200 million units installed worldwide. Through the "Startup Leap Package" program, it has selected 13 external startups and plans to support their commercialization.
Kang Seong-jin, head of business planning at the CSO division, said, "Through the STUDIO341 platform, we will inherit LG Electronics' 'DNA of challenge and change' and contribute to activating the ecosystem by nurturing in-house ventures effectively using venture-style new business methods and creating strong partnerships with external startups."