Seoul Metropolitan Government Attracts PnP Branch of a Global Investment Firm and Starts Investing for Smart City

    LOS ANGELES, CA, January 21, 2021 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The Seoul Digital Foundation (Weonmok Lee, President of Seoul Digital Foundation and CIO of SMG) announced that its own programs including LIVE CES are receiving great interest at home and abroad. These programs were prepared by Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) to effectively utilize CES, the world's largest consumer electronics exhibition and the prime venue for technology contest of innovative companies.

On Jan. 12 (Tue), Acting Mayor of SMG Jeong Hyup Seo spoke with Saeed Amidi, CEO and Cofounder of the global venture capital Plug and Play (PnP) in Silicon Valley, and Gary Shapiro, CEO of CTA which hosts CES, the world's largest ICT trade show, and seeing visible results.

PnP (Plug and Play) is a Silicon Valley-based startup investment firm and accelerator with a history of making initial investments in LendingClub, PayPal, and Dropbox. The company has invested in 250 companies in 2019, and has invested an average of $30 million per year in the last three years.

CTA (Consumer Technology Association), founded in 1924 and currently having more than 2,200 consumer technology companies as members, is a major trade association in the US that hosts CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas every January since 1967.

Acting Mayor of SMG Jeong Hyup Seo is having a talk session with Saeed Amidi, the CEO and Cofounder of the global accelerator PnP.

As all events including talks are held digital at CES 2021, LIVE CES Seoul, hosted by SMG and co-organized by Seoul Digital Foundation and PnP, was held as part of "Policy Unpack."

The talks were held with the Acting Mayor at Seoul City Hall and PnP CEO and Cofounder Saeed Amidi and CTA CEO Gary Shapiro in the US talking virtually in the live video conference.

The CES 2021 online video in-house conferences are being actively utilized by the global companies participating in CES as well.

At the talks, it was announced that the Seoul branch of PnP will be established and continuous cooperation and support between CTA CEO Gary Shapiro and SMG will be made.

Acting Mayor of SMG Jeong Hyup Seo is having a talk session with Gary Shapiro, CEO of CES organizer CTA. PnP CEO and Cofounder Saeed Amidi officially announced the establishment of the Seoul branch in April. After this, PnP Seoul branch will create a smart city fund to begin investment in full force.

With the signing of MOU with SMG in Jan. 2020, PnP has been preparing to establish a branch in Seoul.

CTA CEO Gary Shapiro came as the second person for discussion on Policy Unpack. He said he was deeply impressed with the solutions which the companies participating in CES Seoul Pavilion presented as he cited the importance of partnering with Seoul.

Especially as he has mentioned ALGOCARE and NUVI LAB which have won the CES Innovation Award, he said that Seoul's participation in CES and Seoul-based innovative companies have great significance to CTA.

Jeong Hyup Seo, Acting Mayor of SMG, said, "We welcome the entrance of the global accelerator PnP and its investment in Seoul, and we promise to provide full support for successful businesses. And, we will make a continuous relationship with CTA, the host of CES."

Pitching event of the participating companies
CES Seoul Pavilion can be visited through the official CES 2021 online exhibition hall digital.ces.tech and smartseoul.net. The side event LIVE CES Seoul is currently broadcast live on the official SMG YouTube channel.

At "LIVE CES Seoul," a SMG-global partner talk "Unpack Seoul" will be held on Jan. 12. Also, the CES trend-reading show "Connected Seoul" will be held Jan. 11, and the pitching of participating companies will be shown at "Seoul Pitch Day" on Jan. 13-14.

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