Bosch Increases Investment in Startups

Bosch Increases Investment in Startups
Bosch

Investments in startups are on the rise. Bosch, too, is increasing its investment in external startups, providing Robert Bosch Venture Capital GmbH (RBVC) with 200 million euros for a fourth fund.

“Shaping the future also means recognizing good ideas early on and helping them achieve a breakthrough. As a leading IoT company, we want to drive forward select technologies in areas of future relevance, such as artificial intelligence,“ explains Volkmar Denner, CEO of Bosch.

RBVC currently has a stake in three of the most promising AI startups worldwide: DeepMap, Graphcore, and Syntiant. “We not only invest in startups, we also collaborate with them on open innovation projects. This is one way in which we boost our innovative strength,“ Denner said.

Open innovation is a concept that brings together customers, researchers, suppliers, and partners and integrates them into a company’s innovation activities. RBVC, one of Europe’s largest corporate investors, specializes in innovative technology startups. Its portfolio includes more than 35 companies active in autonomous driving, AI, IoT, and even distributed ledger technologies such as blockchain.

Each year, experts from RBVC examine over 2,000 startups, but only around a hundred of these make it to the shortlist. These alliances benefit the fledgling companies as well as Bosch itself. The German corporation currently collaborates with more than one hundred companies on open innovation projects.