Samsung Venture Investment, which is a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics, has invested into a Chinese startup that has battery sharing business. It is expected that Samsung Electronics will go after logistics mobility market, which is a collection of technologies related to secondary industries. According to related industries on the 26th, Samsung Venture Investment invested into Immotor, a Chinese startup on the 19th. Total amount of investment is $43M USD and was listed as an investor along with GGV Capital.
Founded in Shenzhen, China in 2016, Immotor is currently carrying out a battery sharing business that is used for ‘last mile’ mobile device. Last mile refers to the last mile or so, the final step in the logistics and distribution industry is to deliver products to end consumers. As the online and mobile commerce market has recently expanded and is being combined with IoT, self-driving technology, and advanced robot technology, the last mile logistics service market is also growing rapidly. Hyundai Motor Company also invested in Immotor in July of last year.
The main technology of the Immotor is to connect logistics deliverymen’s transport route, battery condition, and charging station with IoT and smart battery technology and analyze data in real time. By applying telecommunication function to batteries that are installed on two-wheel electric vehicles or ultra-small electric vehicles, it is able to understand battery condition of deliverymen in real time and guide them to battery replacement stations that are near by Smartphones.
Currently, about 500 battery replacement stations are completed in 16 cities including Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou and Shenzhen to provide monthly fixed-rate service to deliverymen and expand to other major Chinese cities in the future. Samsung Group is operating its battery business for electric vehicles, and Samsung Electronics has chosen four automotive electric fields as its new driving forces. Samsung Electronics also invested $ 445M USD in BYD, a Chinese electric car manufacturer, in 2016. In particular, Immotor’s business is where IOT technology, batteries, Smartphone and others will be combined.
“Samsung Electronics is strengthening its investment in global startups in order to target new businesses.”
representative for a business group.
