LG Electronics invests $60mn in U.S. startup Bear Robotics

[Courtesy of LG Electronics Inc.]

South Korean tech giant LG Electronics Inc. announced Tuesday that it signed a $60 million stock purchase agreement to acquire a stake in Bear Robotics Inc., a Silicon Valley-based startup specializing in AI-driven autonomous service robots.

The move is seen as part of an effort to transform the company into a smart life solution entity.

Following the investment, LG Electronics is expected to become the single largest shareholder of Bear Robotics.

Bear Robotics – founded by former Google software engineer Ha Jung-woo in 2017 – specializes in AI-based indoor autonomous delivery robots, offering services not only in Korea but also in the United States and Japan.

The company has a number of engineers from big tech companies such as Google LLC, including its co-founder and chief technology officer (CTO), and is considered to have excellent capabilities in commercial robot software, cluster control technology to manage multiple robots, and cloud-based control solutions.

LG Electronics plans to leverage this investment to rapidly enhance its capabilities in the future-oriented robot business.

Earlier this year, LG Electronics Chief Executive Officer Cho Joo-wan had noted during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2024 in Las Vegas that the company‘s commercial robot business focuses mainly on delivery and logistics services, with open possibilities for stake investments and M&As to carefully guide its development direction.

The company has accumulated expertise in the robot business over the years, applying robot solutions in various commercial spaces such as airports, hotels, restaurants, hospitals, stores, museums, smart logistics warehouses, and golf courses.

The LG Future Park in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province, houses a facility for the in-house production of commercial robots.

The company believes that it can lead the way in standardizing robot platforms and innovatively reducing market entry costs by combining its accumulated robot business capabilities with Bear Robotics’ global research and development (R&D) infrastructure and software platform capabilities.

LG Electronics is also expanding its business beyond service robots to include industrial robots with a focus on smart factories and home robots such as smart home AI agents.

[Courtesy of LG Electronics Inc.]

The company is also actively using AI technology in its traditional strengths like home appliances and TVs, while exploring new business areas such as smart homes, mobility, commercial ventures, and metaverse, to diverse its portfolio.

Global interest in LG Electronics‘ AI competitiveness, in the meantime, has been growing.

During a recent visit to Korea, Meta Platforms Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg held strategic discussions with LG Electronics CEO Cho to strengthen the partnership between the two companies.

LG Electronics plans to launch an extended reality (XR) device developed in collaboration with Meta Platforms as early as next year.

LG Electronics recently declared a vision to transform itself into a “smart life solutions company” that connects and expands various customer experiences, moving beyond being just a home appliance company.

The company aims to achieve 100 trillion won ($76.25 billion) in sales by 2030, using smart life solutions as a foundation to connect and expand experiences across various spaces such as homes, mobility, commercial spaces, and virtual environments.