LG Group is stepping up its innovation drive, investing in three artificial intelligence startups in Israel and the U.S. this month alone.

LG Technology Ventures, the venture capital investment arm of South Korea’s fourth-largest conglomerate LG Group, invested this month in the visual AI technology company Syte, AI medical imaging analytics firm Zebra Medical Vision of Israel and the U.S. mobile ad company Moloco.

The exact amount of the investments was not disclosed but is estimated at roughly tens of millions of dollars combined.

Syte is a Tel Aviv-based startup that provides retailers with an image-based search engine that leverages visual AI to assign detailed tags to a retailer’s inventory using product images. Its algorithm solution has already been widely adopted in the fashion industry world-wide. Among its clients are Kim Kardashian’s Screenshop, the U.K. online fashion retailer boohoo and U.K.’s leading retail group Marks & Spencer.

Zebra Medical Vision is a healthcare startup that uses AI technology to deliver fast and accurate analysis of medical images such as X-rays. More than 1,100 hospitals and medical institutions around the world are using its solutions.

Moloco is a mobile ad startup founded in Silicon Valley in 2013 that harnesses AI machine learning and big data technologies to allow companies to feature customized ads on mobile devices.

LG has ramped up its investment drive in AI startups starting this year.

LG Technology Ventures invested $23 million in Aurora Labs, an Israeli startup known for its “self-healing” software for connected cars that can automatically detect faults and apply fixes.

This initiative has been spearheaded by Koo Kwang-mo, the third-generation leader of the family-run conglomerate who took the helm in June 2018 at the age of 40.

Under Koo’s command, LG Technology Ventures was set up in Silicon Valley in 2018 and now manages $425 million in funds pooled from five group affiliates, including LG Electronics, to invest in promising new startups in AI, robotics and autonomous driving.

LG in October 2019 also took part in the 320-billion-won ($283.5 million) fundraising round for Growth Acceleration Fund by Softbank Ventures Asia to invest in AI startups.

By Lee Jong-hyuk and Kim Hyo-jin

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