Qualcomm Ventures launches 5G mega fund

According to a company press release, the global fund will focus on startups demonstrating new and innovative 5G use cases, driving 5G network transformation and expanding 5G into enterprise markets. This fund is designed to encourage 5G innovation beyond the smartphone and drive more widespread 5G adoption. Qualcomm Incorporated CEO Steve Mollenkopf said, “5G will transform industries and should be viewed as a business strategy for all. The intent of this fund is to fuel innovative 5G businesses that will be poised to take advantage of the USD 13.2 trillion economic benefit that 5G will enable by 2035.” The 5G Ecosystem Fund hopes to continue the strategy of investing in technology areas that are designed to encourage forward movement in the economy, similar to Qualcomm’s launch last year of its Ventures AI Fund, which focuses on investing in innovative startups using on-device AI. Faster speeds, virtually imperceptible lag times and uber-high reliability of 5G is poised to rapidly push the technology to non-smartphone devices from the home to office to factory, including smart-systems, robots, VR systems, and health care monitors. “The 5G Ecosystem Fund will invest in startups developing 5G applications beyond smartphones and across the entire 5G value chain,” said Quinn Li, Senior Vice President, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and global head of Qualcomm Ventures. “From companies developing new use cases leveraging 5G’s unique capabilities to solutions that transform networks into an intelligent, software-defined connectivity fabric. We want to fuel the innovations in the 5G ecosystem and unlock the potential of 5G.” Qualcomm Ventures, the capital investment group of Qualcomm Incorporated, has invested in more than 350 global startups its inception in 2000, including Zoom, Cloudflare, AMEC, Xiaomi, Cruise Automation, 99, Thundersoft, Fitbit and Waze.