SamsungNext is the venture and innovation arm of Samsung Electronics, established in 2013 under the name Samsung Global Innovation Center before rebranding to SamsungNext in 2017. The firm operates as a strategic investor focused on early-stage software, developer tools, artificial intelligence, fintech, and – increasingly – Web3 infrastructure. It maintains its primary office in San Francisco, with additional hubs in Seoul, Tel Aviv, New York, and London. Though the investor metadata lists South Korea as the home location, the firm's operational center has historically been Silicon Valley.
SamsungNext does not publicly disclose assets under management. Unlike dedicated crypto-native funds, it deploys capital directly from Samsung Electronics' balance sheet. This structure gives it a longer time horizon and removes the typical 10-year fund lifecycle pressure. Its investment thesis spans seed through Series B, with a preference for companies building software layers that could integrate with Samsung's hardware ecosystem – smart devices, edge computing, and enterprise services. The Web3 allocation grew meaningfully after 2021 as the firm participated in several blockchain infrastructure rounds.
Notable investments
- StarkWare – Ethereum Layer 2 scaling using STARK-based zero-knowledge proofs. One of SamsungNext's most-cited Web3 bets, valued at $8 billion at its 2022 Series D.
- LayerZero – Cross-chain messaging protocol. SamsungNext joined a broader investor syndicate as the project scaled to support dozens of blockchains.
- Phantom – Multi-chain self-custody wallet with a strong Solana user base. SamsungNext participated in an early funding round alongside other strategic backers.
- Coda (now Notion) – Document collaboration platform. An early strategic bet that preceded Notion's category dominance.
- Branch – Mobile deep linking and measurement infrastructure. Represents the firm's focus on mobile-layer developer tools.
- Toss (Viva Republica) – Korean fintech super-app. A home-market investment that reflects SamsungNext's alignment with Seoul's startup ecosystem.
Public information on the full portfolio beyond headline names is limited. The firm has participated in roughly 30 disclosed deals across its active investment history, with 4 identified as lead positions – consistent with its typical role as a co-investor alongside specialist VCs.
Team
SamsungNext has been led by a rotating set of Samsung Electronics executives rather than career venture capitalists. David Eun was an early president of the group and helped define its software-first mandate. Subsequent leadership has included executives drawn from Samsung's global strategy divisions. Public information about the current managing partners and their individual backgrounds is limited – the firm does not prominently publish partner bios in the way that dedicated VC firms typically do. This reflects its corporate venture structure, where investment authority sits within Samsung's broader innovation organization.
Recent activity
Between 2024 and early 2026, SamsungNext continued to follow the broader industry shift toward AI infrastructure and on-chain finance. The firm has been associated with investments in account abstraction tooling and modular blockchain projects, though deal-by-deal disclosures remain sparse. Samsung Electronics itself deepened its blockchain commitments through the Samsung Blockchain Wallet – integrated across Galaxy devices – which creates a natural strategic rationale for SamsungNext to back wallet, DeFi, and cross-chain infrastructure projects. No major portfolio failures have been publicly confirmed, though several early Web3 bets from the 2021 cycle carry unrealized losses consistent with the sector-wide correction.
SamsungNext occupies a distinct position among corporate VCs: it has the patient capital of a $300B+ parent, direct hardware distribution channels spanning over a billion Samsung device users, and a growing mandate to seed the Web3 primitives that could run on that hardware. Its relatively low lead-investment rate (4 of 30) suggests it still operates primarily as a signal-following co-investor. For founders, the strategic value – Samsung's distribution reach and device integration pathways – often matters as much as the capital itself. For external observers, the firm's portfolio choices serve as one indicator of where Samsung Electronics expects the next generation of mobile and on-chain infrastructure to land.
For further reference, see SamsungNext's official site and the firm's Crunchbase profile.
