The investment will be made via the chipmaker’s investment arm Qualcomm Ventures
Qualcomm has led a RMB100 million ($14.55 million) Series B+ round in Baicells Technologies, a Chinese small cell company, for the development of 5G technologies.
The investment, which was made through the company’s Qualcomm Ventures investment arm, will be chiefly focused on the development of 5G technologies.
“5G is not only for Tier 1 operators and Qualcomm Ventures is proud to invest in Baicells, a startup company that is dedicated to fixed wireless access solutions and service platforms, for its future 5G leadership,” said James Shen, VP of Ventures, Qualcomm Technologies.
“Qualcomm’s investment and increased collaboration will only help bring Baicells’ 5G technology to the next level” said Lixin Sun, founder and CEO of Baicells Technologies.
Baicells Technologies is tackling 5G with a focus on modularized architecture, virtualized technology and fog computing to extend business opportunities to new vertical industries, according to the company.
Through an open architecture and open-API 5G solution, Baicells said it aims to support different use cases and requirements for multiple deployment scenarios ,allowing 5G technologies to be quickly and efficiently implemented across the globe.
In November 2018, Qualcomm announced the launch of a new Qualcomm Ventures AI Fund to invest up to $100 million in startups focusing on artificial intelligence. Qualcomm said that the fund will focus on startups, with an emphasis on those developing new technology for autonomous cars, robotics and machine learning platforms.
In May, Qualcomm Technologies had announced the formation of a dedicated AI research organization aimed at coordinating the company’s R&D efforts in this area. Qualcomm says its research has already helped deliver commercial solutions for smartphones, automotive, and IoT and is foundational for expanding on-device intelligence to many new industries.
