SAMSUNG INVESTS IN KOREAN BLOCKCHAIN STARTUP TECHNOLOGY
Samsung SDS, subsidiary of Korean technology giant Samsung, announced yesterday investments in a startup of cyber security and another blockchain technology.
The company invested 1.5 trillion wons (approximately 1.3 million dollars) in Blocko, startup based in Seoul Korean that can easily take the blockchain technology by offering platforms owned for leading companies in the country. This platform product such Blockchain-as-service (BaaS) leads by name CoinStack and allows businesses to integrate the technology through a simple application programming interface (API).
Samsung also invested in the startup British Darktrace, winner of the 'Best Security Company of the Year' in 2016 according to Info Security, which uses advanced technology of machine learning to detect and respond to cyber threats.
The investments were made through an investment fund for new technologies, of which the subsidiary of Samsung owns 99% of the shares and is handled in conjunction with Samsung Venture Investment Corporations (SVIC).
On investments, Samsung SDS says:
Through these investments, Samsung SDS will be able to retain the technological vanguard of cybersecurity and blockchain. The company intends to work closely with these new companies to promote the growth of the business. Samsung SDS will increase the competitiveness of their businesses and services of cyber security through the promotion of sales of the innovative solution of defense against cyber threats of Darktrace to Korean companies, as well as working with Blocko to support the marketing of the emerging technology blockchain in several sectors including the IoT (Internet of Things).
A spokesman for Samsung SDS stated that this was the first time that Samsung SDS invested in startups of Information Technology and added that "investment in startups is part of the strategy of the whole group of Samsung, which allows us to find new sources of revenue and build a symbiotic relationship with emerging startups."
This is not the first time that Samsung is interested in the technology blockchain. In February of this year the center of Strategy and Innovation of Samsung (SSIC, by its acronym in English) unveiled a prototype of use of the Blockchain for the IoT next to the startup Slock.it in the Mobile World Congress.