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BlackBerry announces $50 million fund for startups creating on the BlackBerry IVY platform

The Intelligent Vehicle Data Platform helps car manufacturers “create responsive in-vehicle services that enhance driver and passenger experience.”

Image: snvv, Getty Images/iStockphoto

If you develop data-driven auto ecosystems and use BlackBerry IVY in new products and applications, you’re eligible to receive funds through BlackBerry’s just-announced $50 million IVY Innovation Fund. In December 2020, BlackBerry announced the multi-year, global agreement with Amazon Web Services: “IVY is a scalable, cloud-connected software platform that will allow automakers to provide a consistent and secure way to read vehicle sensor data, normalize it and create actionable insights from that data both locally in the vehicle and in the cloud,” the company said in a press release.

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Car manufacturers use the information to “create responsive in-vehicle services that enhance driver and passenger experience.”

The IVY Fund’s goal is to push the expansion of the BlackBerry IVY ecosystem with innovative automobile solutions. The $50 million will initially be allocated as investments in startups that focus on developing data-driven solutions.

BlackBerry has a stronghold on the automotive and cybersecurity domain, and portfolio companies that use IVY will also have access to up to $100,000 in AWS credits through AWS Activate, a program that has already helped “hundreds of thousands of early-stage startups.” Access to the Activate Console is also included; Activate Console is a self-service platform to help startups build their businesses using insights and expertise.

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Sarah Cooper, general manager of outcome-driven engineering at Amazon Web Services said, “BlackBerry IVY is reinventing the automotive customer experience by transforming vehicles from fixed pieces of technology into systems that grow and adapt with a user’s needs. The BlackBerry IVY Innovation Fund is an important step in creating the community of developers and inspiring the ingenuity from startups that will drive innovation forward.”

BlackBerry said it is committed to developing the BlackBerry IVY ecosystem “to allow OEMs, smart mobility providers, fleet operators and developers alike to leverage the rich insights from the next generation of intelligent connected vehicles.”

“The connected vehicle market is evolving with a tremendous rate of innovation,” said Vito Giallorenzo, senior vice president of corporate development and strategic partnerships at BlackBerry, in the same press release. “BlackBerry IVY has the potential to play a pivotal role in enabling a rich ecosystem of solutions that improve and enhance driver and passenger experiences and ultimately revolutionize the way we get from A to B.”

Giallorenzo continued, “The BlackBerry IVY Innovation Fund will be a powerful tool to enable both established and startup partners to benefit from BlackBerry IVY’s powerful data insights and help us drive advancements across the entire transportation industry.”

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Source: TechRepublic