Nokia has announced the launch of a $100 million venture fund to invest in auto technology across the globe, including India. The Finnish phone giant plans to invest the fund in promising startups and auto service companies that are involved in connected car related technologies.
Nokia which recently completed its sale of mobile devices business to Microsoft said that the fund will be managed by Nokia Growth Partners (NGP). The funding amount will be used to invest in new opportunities around the automotive mapping and location ecosystem that is such a focal point for HERE.
Our new $100 million venture fund launched today further underlines our belief that the connected car is a significant growth opportunity,
said Nokia Chief Executive Rajeev Suri said in a statement.
Nokia has a significant presence in auto electronics through its Navteq division, which supplies mapping and navigation data for vehicles’ satellite navigation systems. The company provides map data to Amazon.com Inc., Microsoft, Yahoo! Inc.
For the last few years there has been a surge in innovation that has brought technological advances leading to safer, cleaner, increasingly connected, intelligent and more affordable vehicles. Vehicles are becoming a new platform for technology adoption very similar to phones or tablets,
said Paul Asel, Partner at Nokia Growth Partners.
The Connected Car fund will extend to the U.S., India, China and Europe where Nokia Growth Partners will invest a total of $700M in high potential businesses.
We believe that connected cars equipped with precise location awareness and sensor data can become powerful devices capable of helping drivers make sense of the world around them
adds Michael Halbherr, CEO of HERE.
Google and Apple are already present in the connected cars market which is touted to be a big hit similar to wearable technology.
[ Source :- Fonearena ]
