What Samsung NEXT does

Samsung NEXT is the corporate venture capital and strategic investment arm of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., operated through Samsung Research America, Inc. (SRA), a California-incorporated affiliate headquartered in Mountain View with a collaboration hub in Suwon, South Korea. The firm invests in early- and growth-stage software and services startups across six public portfolio verticals: Artificial Intelligence & Intelligent Machines, Healthtech, Consumer Services, Frontier Technology, plus separately published Blockchain, Fintech, Infrastructure, and Mediatech sector lists. Active since at least 2021 (with a documented 2019 acquisition of Whisk), Samsung NEXT maintains a portfolio of 100+ companies spanning humanoid robotics (Standard Bots, Dyna, Apptronik, Figure, 1X), AI infrastructure (Perplexity, Ceramic.ai, Music.AI, Twelve Labs, Memories.ai, Reality Defender), healthtech (Signos, Atropos Health, Bold, SafelyYou, Better Health, Sibel Health, Beacon Biosignals), fintech and blockchain (Mesh, Method Financial, Curve, Fin, Kite, LayerZero, Aleo), frontier compute (Classiq quantum, Tenstorrent AI accelerators, DeepInfra inference, Parasail, Xona Space Systems), and embodied/agentic AI plays.

Samsung NEXT does not develop proprietary core technology of its own. Its technical and strategic value-add to portfolio founders derives from access to Samsung Electronics' broader ecosystem: Samsung Foundry manufacturing services, HBM memory supply, Samsung Knox security infrastructure, the SmartThings IoT platform (460M devices), Samsung Health (77M MAU), and Samsung Medison medical imaging. The offering is operationalized through a small Mountain View investment team of ~13 professionals (led by David Lee, with Raymond Liao as Managing Director and Andy Duong as Investment Director) plus a ~5-person operating team, a Typeform-based founder intake funnel on the company blog, and an analyst-authored "Why We Invested" thesis blog documenting each new position.

The business model is classic corporate venture capital: Samsung NEXT invests balance-sheet capital from Samsung Electronics in exchange for equity stakes in portfolio companies, with revenue generated through capital gains realized on exits (documented exits include AST SpaceMobile IPO, Covariant acquired by Amazon, Deci acquired by NVIDIA, and Mosaic ML acquired by Databricks). Beyond financial returns, the firm captures strategic value through Samsung ecosystem integration. No fund size, AUM, fee structure, or revenue figure is publicly disclosed, consistent with its status as a wholly-owned strategic subsidiary funded internally by the Samsung parent rather than by external limited partners.

Name

Samsung NEXT

Legal name

Samsung Research America, Inc.

Website

https://samsungnext.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Samsung NEXT is the corporate venture capital arm of Samsung Electronics, investing in early- and growth-stage software and services startups across AI, robotics, healthtech, fintech, blockchain, and frontier technology, offering portfolio companies access to Samsung's broader hardware and software ecosystem.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Corporate Venture Capital

NAICS

Scientific Research and Development Services (5417)

SIC

Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700)

akta.pro primary industry

Technology & B2B PR (BPAFADAI)

Keywords

• Venture capital
• Corporate venture capital
• Seed-stage investing
• Startup investment
• Technology investment

Headquarters

HQ city

Mountain View

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Investment Returns (Capital Gains): Primary revenue generation through portfolio company exits — IPOs, acquisitions, and secondary sales. Samsung NEXT holds equity positions across 100+ portfolio companies and realizes returns when portfolio companies achieve liquidity events (e.g., portfolio includes exits like AST SpaceMobile, Mosaic ML acquired by Databricks, Covariant acquired by Amazon).
2. Strategic Value Capture: Strategic value capture through Samsung ecosystem synergies — portfolio companies gain access to Samsung's distribution (SmartThings 460M devices, Samsung Health 77M MAU), manufacturing/foundry services, HBM memory supply, and Samsung Knox security infrastructure, with Samsung NEXT capturing strategic upside beyond pure financial returns.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Core offering

Samsung NEXT is the corporate venture capital and strategic investment arm of Samsung Electronics, operated through Samsung Research America, Inc. (SRA). It provides seed-to-growth stage equity capital, mentorship, and ecosystem access to transformative software and services startups across AI & Intelligent Machines, Healthtech, Consumer Services (blockchain, mobile, media, gaming, fintech), and Frontier Technology sectors. Portfolio founders gain access to Samsung's distribution platforms, foundry services, HBM memory supply, Samsung Knox security, and SmartThings/Health ecosystems.

Product overview

Samsung NEXT is not a software product company but a single, unified venture-capital investment service operated by Samsung Research America, Inc. Its offering is a venture investment and founder-support platform organized into a small set of clearly named portfolio-sector sub-products — AI & Robotics, Healthtech, Fintech, Mediatech, Infrastructure, and Blockchain — plus a public Select Exits category and an analyst-authored "Why we invested" research blog. Each sector sub-product surfaces the names, websites, and short descriptions of its portfolio companies (e.g., Music.AI, Ceramic.ai, Reality Defender, Twelve Labs, Perplexity.ai, and Standard Bots in AI & Robotics; Signos, Atropos Health, Bold, SafelyYou, Better Health, MiSalud, and Nest Genomics in Healthtech; Mesh, Method Financial, Skipify, Curve, Prometeo, Petal/Prism Data, and Kite in Fintech; Inworld.ai, Mawari, Medal.tv, Playtron, Spatial, and StreamElements in Mediatech; Koyeb, Classiq, Expanso, and Unify.ai in Infrastructure; LayerZero, Krypton, Sahara, Cypher, Hotspotty, and Aleo in Blockchain). The Samsung NEXT service delivers this portfolio together with founder mentorship, capital, and access to Samsung's product ecosystem from its Mountain View, CA hub, with a Typeform-based intake form ("Tell us about yourself") on its blog functioning as the founder-facing entry point into the offering.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Samsung NEXT Venture Investment Services

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

AI capability11 records

Feature4 records

Expansion highlights7 records

Direct peers

• Intel Capital: Corporate venture capital arm of Intel Corporation, investing across AI, semiconductors, autonomous systems, and enterprise infrastructure. Directly comparable to Samsung NEXT as a strategic CVC of a major hardware OEM with foundry, silicon, and ecosystem synergies to offer portfolio companies.
• Qualcomm Ventures: Corporate venture capital arm of Qualcomm, focused on AI, 5G, automotive, IoT, and mobile. Comparable to Samsung NEXT in mobile/connectivity focus, foundry-adjacent thesis, and overlap on portfolio names such as Inworld.ai and other AI/Robotics investments.
• NVIDIA NVentures: Corporate venture capital arm of NVIDIA investing in AI infrastructure, robotics, autonomous systems, and AI agents. Directly comparable to Samsung NEXT's AI/robotics thesis and frequently co-invests alongside it in deals such as Dyna Robotics, Parasail, and DeepInfra.
• LG Technology Ventures: Corporate venture capital arm of LG Electronics, investing in AI, mobility, cleantech, and advanced manufacturing. Closely comparable to Samsung NEXT as a Korean OEM's strategic CVC and a frequent co-investor (Dyna Robotics, Skild AI).
• Salesforce Ventures: Corporate venture capital arm of Salesforce, investing in enterprise software, AI, and data infrastructure. Comparable to Samsung NEXT in scale, stage range, and co-investment frequency (Skild AI, Dyna Robotics).
• Google Ventures (GV): Corporate venture capital arm of Alphabet, one of the largest and most active CVCs globally, investing across AI, life sciences, consumer, and frontier tech. Comparable to Samsung NEXT in scope, stage range, and thesis breadth across AI/Robotics and Healthtech.
• Microsoft for Startups: Microsoft's startup engagement platform offering capital, Azure credits, and enterprise distribution to early-stage companies. Comparable to Samsung NEXT as a hyperscaler/strategic platform with cloud and distribution synergies for portfolio companies.
• Sony Innovation Fund: Corporate venture capital arm of Sony Group, investing in AI, entertainment, gaming, mobility, and deep tech. Comparable to Samsung NEXT as a Japanese/Korean OEM-adjacent CVC with content, gaming, and hardware-ecosystem synergies (overlap in XR/mediatech themes such as Mawari, Afference).
• Toyota Ventures: Corporate venture capital arm of Toyota, with thesis areas in AI, autonomous mobility, robotics, and climate. Comparable to Samsung NEXT specifically on the humanoid-robotics and AI-driven machines investment theme (overlap with Apptronik, Figure).
• Dell Technologies Capital: Corporate venture capital arm of Dell Technologies, investing in enterprise infrastructure, AI, storage, and cloud. Comparable to Samsung NEXT in stage range (seed through growth) and in providing hardware/supply-chain value-add to portfolio companies.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/SamsungNEXT
• Facebookfacebook.com/SamsungNEXT
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/samsung-next

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments474 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Samsung NEXT