ZTE USA, the US-based subsidiary of China-based smartphone manufacturer ZTE, launched a corporate venturing unit called ZTE Innovation Venture Fund at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Tuesday.
Financial details about the fund are yet to be disclosed, but the it will target mobile app developers and mobile content startups based in North America.
Select startups will also be able to distribute their product through ZTE’s global ecosystem. The fund has already backed Azumio, the developer of a weight-training and fitness application, which raised $900,000 from undisclosed investors in August 2014.
Jeff Yee, ZTE USA’s vice president of technology planning and partnerships and the leader of the fund, said: “We already have teams lined up that we believe in and who we think show promise in shifting the marketplace.”
ZTE is already active in corporate venturing, having committed $45m to ZTE Venture Capital Fund in 2010 and $15.5m to internal innovation unit ZTE Innovative Fund the following year.