Mobile chipmaker Qualcomm’s corporate venturing unit, Qualcomm Ventures, and the Brazilian government-owned National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES), have selected a fund manager for their internet-of-things (IoT) fund.
Brazil-based venture capital firm Indicator Capital will oversee the $39.3m fund the two formed in January this year. Qualcomm Ventures and BNDES have each supplied 25% of the capital and Indicator Capital will seek out additional limited partners for the remainder.
The fund will have a 10-year investment period and is expected to back at least 14 developers of hardware, software and data analytics tools covering strategic areas including advanced manufacturing, smart cities, healthcare and smart agriculture.
Alexandre Villela, Qualcomm Ventures’ managing director for Latin America, said: “This initiative aligns with our objective to accelerate the IoT ecosystem in Brazil. At a time when companies are looking to boost productivity to increase their global competitiveness, IoT has emerged as one of the main pillars of digital transformation processes and industry 4.0.
“We are thrilled to collaborate with Indicator Capital on this initiative and use our IoT experience to promote innovation and support emerging companies in this segment.” (Translated from Portuguese by Global Corporate Venturing)
