Nokia's $100 Million Connected Car Fund May Be Its Best Chance for Reinvention

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By Adario Strange2014-05-05 15:42:33 -0400

Finland-based Nokia has announced plans to increase its focus on in-car technology by launching a $100 million Connected Car fund.

The fund, which will be managed by Nokia Growth Partners (NGP), will increase the company's connected car investments in the United States, India, China and Europe.

See also: Hands On With Apple's CarPlay Integration With Volvo

"We believe that vehicles are becoming a new platform for mobile technology adoption akin to our experience in the phone industry," said NGP managing partner Paul Asel in a statement.

The fund also appears to be designed to enhance developer activity around Nokia's in-car system HERE (formerly Nokia Maps), a dashboard mapping and location system used by the likes of Toyota, BMW and others.

According to Nokia, the system, which delivers information in 52 languages (as well as voice-guided navigation in 96 countries), is part of five different in-car navigation systems in the U.S. and Europe and was in at least 10 million of the new cars sold in 2013.

"As vehicles become connected, technology can be integrated across the auto ecosystem," Asel said. "We are excited to deepen our collaboration with Here through the Connected Car fund to invest in companies that are driving the future of the auto ecosystem, local services and personal mobility."

With the recent sale of its mobile phone unit to Microsoft, the connected car space could be Nokia's best chance to reinvent itself as the ultimate mobile solution by transcending handsets and concentrating its efforts on extending its mapping and location software platform.

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Topics: Apps and Software, cars, connected car, mapping, Mobile, Nokia, smart cars, software, Tech