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Photo credit: Matt Wildbore / Unsplash.

US$6 billion gadget maker Asus is eyeing up startup investments with a US$50 million fund, it announced this week.

“This is a strategic fund for Asus,” says Anis Uzzaman, general partner at Fenox, which is managing the fund. “Asus wants to invest in startups in the areas of AI, IoT, big data, cloud computing, AR, VR, and other related technologies that require hardware-software integration and can benefit from collaboration with Asus.”

While the fund might pocket some returns, the phone and laptop specialist is aiming mainly to latch onto startups “that can collaborate with them both in business and technology areas,” Uzzaman tells Tech in Asia.

The fund is scanning for startups around the world, but it will focus on Asia, Europe, and the US.

Photo credit: Anis Uzzaman.

“We plan to invest from a few hundred thousands – for early stage startups – to a few million dollars for late stage startups,” says Uzzaman. “We are also planning to do follow-on investments into startups as they grow. So, we will provide hands-on support to the startups as we invest in them from this Asus Fund.”

Just like with a regular venture capital firm, that means there’s advice and mentorship on offer to the entrepreneurs.

 The California-based investment firm will serve as a matchmaker between startups and Asus – which it also does for several other funds it manages, such as ones for Sega and Bandai.

Converted from Taiwanese dollars. Rate: US$1 = NT$30.11.

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