LG Electronics Spins Off 5 In-House Venture Teams

Fruits of 6 Months of In-House Venture Development
Spin-Off Process to Be Completed Within the First Half of the Year

LG Electronics' in-house ventures that have undergone an approximately six-month incubation process qualify for spin-off status.

On the 28th, LG Electronics announced that it held a demo day for six teams selected through the in-house venture program 'Studio341' at LG Science Park in Magok, Seoul, and finally selected five teams qualified for spin-off. The final selected teams are 'Sinsungo', 'Xup', 'Poundofje', 'Cucumber', and 'Maskit'.

Lee Samsu, Vice President and CSO of LG Electronics (center), is listening to an explanation from Kim Hansu, CIO of 'Xup,' at the 'Studio 341' Demo Day held on the 20th at LG Science Park in Magok.
[Photo by LG Electronics]

The selection was made after multifaceted consideration of the business value of the in-house venture items, the validity of the proposed solutions to solve problems, the expected level of change through these solutions, and the team's capabilities to execute the business. Specific spin-off conditions, including each team and initial investment amounts, will be agreed upon, and the spin-off procedures are expected to be completed within the first half of this year.

Studio341 is a program started by LG Electronics in June last year to discover and nurture in-house ventures that inherit the spirit of challenge and innovation from the founding of Geumseongsa. The name was taken from 341 Yeonji-dong, Busanjin-gu, Busan, where Geumseongsa was first established in 1958.

Through Studio341, LG Electronics selected teams with creative ideas to provide new value to customers in various promising future industries. Out of a total of about 110 ideas, 13 teams were selected through the first screening, and six teams that passed all the way through the second stage have been undergoing a business competitiveness enhancement phase for spin-off since November last year.

For the teams decided to spin off, LG Electronics and Bluepoint, a startup accelerator specializing in nurturing startups, will jointly invest up to 400 million KRW per team as startup capital.

Lee Samsu, Vice President and CSO of LG Electronics, said, "We will continue to cooperate so that the in-house ventures spinning off can continuously grow and provide innovative customer experiences," adding, "We will support their bold challenge toward becoming unicorn startups."