Nokia and Celesta Capital announced a long-term strategic partnership to accelerate the commercialisation of deep technologies invented by Nokia Bell Labs, including advanced communications, AI and deep learning, next-generation semiconductor fabrication, sensors, and quantum computing. Celesta Capital will help cultivate and invest in key technologies incubated and developed within Nokia Bell Labs, to form commercially viable, independent venture-backed companies. The new partnership unites Nokia Bell Labs’ robust IP portfolio and research prowess with Celesta Capital’s unique expertise as a global deep tech investor and business builder.
The core focus of the partnership will work to incorporate technology developed by Nokia Bell Labs into newly created companies. Additional areas of collaboration will include:
- LP Investment: Nokia will participate in Celesta Capital funds as a Limited Partner.
- Ongoing Advisory Support: Providing hands-on support to new companies, including network access to support capital raising and go-to-market activities.
- Deal Sourcing: Mutual sharing of new ventures and co-investment opportunities.
- Portfolio Collaboration: Exploring partnership opportunities within Celesta’s existing portfolio of 100+ global deep tech investments.
The partnership will include several areas of close collaboration to nurture promising early-stage technologies into independent commercial ventures. Key areas of focus and collaboration are expected to include:
- Advanced communications: Foundational communication technologies that will enable 5G and 6G networks and emerging use cases powering smart cities, factories, precision farming, Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, and connectivity.
- AI and deep learning: Autonomous annotation, synthetic data generation, and analytics.
- Next-gen semiconductor fabrication: scaling of near-terahertz RF technology to unlock new applications
- Sensors: novel biomedical and environmental sensors including MEMS-based optical sensors.
- Quantum computing: advanced cubit architectures for scale-out computing and next generation data centres.
“Celesta Capital is thrilled to collaborate with Nokia, with its unparalleled strength in industrial research and rich technology portfolio,” said Sriram Viswanathan, Founding Managing Partner of Celesta Capital. “We believe this partnership with Nokia Bell Labs leverages Celesta Capital’s unique strengths in identifying, nurturing and developing high potential technologies into the leading deep tech companies of tomorrow.”
“Nokia Bell Labs is a leader in innovation with a robust IP portfolio and research expertise,” said Nishant Batra, Chief Strategy and Technology Officer of Nokia. “Partnering with a leading deep tech venture firm like Celesta, with its strong investment acumen and operational experience, will allow us to scale and lead new startups in key technology areas that will create long-term value for Nokia.”
Nokia Bell Labs is a world-renowned ‘idea factory’ with an unparalleled history of innovation output. Researchers at Nokia Bell Labs have invented or been involved in nearly every critical technological milestone for the last century. They built the first lasers and transistors, discovered the origins of the universe, and connected the world using communications satellites. They also invented implementable technologies like the solar cell and the first hearing aids, as well as leading significant theoretical leaps forward with the likes of Information Theory.
Celesta Capital has built its reputation in Silicon Valley as a leading investor in deep tech, with investments in semiconductors, artificial intelligence, cloud infrastructure, and other emerging technology sectors in the US, India, Israel and beyond.
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