Hyundai Motor Actively Fosters Startups "Reserving Future Unicorn Companies"

[Asia Economy reporters Changhwan Lee and Gimin Lee] "We will accelerate development so that our newly developed LiDAR can be equipped in new cars within 1 to 2 years."

This is a statement from CEO Yongseong Lee, who founded AutoL, an in-house venture recently spun off from Hyundai Motor Group. AutoL is developing high-resolution LiDAR sensors for autonomous driving and has newly launched as an independent company along with other in-house ventures ‘Difon’ and ‘DATAMOND’.

In an interview with this publication on the 5th, CEO Lee highlighted the advantages of Hyundai Motor Group’s in-house startup nurturing program, which has been in place since 2000. First is the company’s abundant budget and manpower support; second is the opportunity to rejoin the company within three years after spin-off; and third is that colleagues are immediate customers.

Cases where Hyundai Motor Group’s startup nurturing projects bear fruit are increasing. It is evaluated as an initiative that not only strengthens win-win cooperation between large and small-medium enterprises by fostering startups armed with innovative ideas but also discovers future growth engines for the company.

Since 2000, Hyundai Motor Group has operated an in-house startup nurturing program called ‘Venture Plaza.’ From this year, the name was changed to ‘Zero1 Company Builder.’ After selection, up to 300 million KRW in development costs are supported for one year, and then a decision is made on spin-off or in-house commercialization. The opportunity to rejoin the company within three years after spin-off is attractive. Every year, in-house startups are spun off, and up to this year, 25 companies have left the company.

Since 2018, the company has been operating the ‘Zero1 Accelerator’ program to discover and collaborate with excellent external startups. The company’s business teams propose projects they want to collaborate on with startups, participate in the selection process, and jointly carry out projects with startups.

So far, there have been 64 collaboration projects and equity investments in 39 companies. The finally selected startups receive up to 50 million KRW in project development funds and are also considered for equity investment.

From today, Hyundai Motor Group has begun the public recruitment of startups for the second half of this year’s Zero1 Accelerator open innovation platform. A Hyundai Motor official emphasized, "To transform into a smart mobility solutions company, we will continue active open innovation activities along with efforts by employees to discover and commercialize innovative and creative ideas."