GSMA Launches Initiative to Advance Next Generation of Connectivity

The GSMA has launched the “GSMA 100”, a global innovation discovery initiative designed to identify and advance the next generation of connectivity and digital services.

Comprised of the world’s most promising growth-stage companies and selected by mobile operators and investment partners, the GSMA 100 represents operator innovation priorities in key areas such as 5G and networking; artificial intelligence and machine learning; consumer experience; data and analytics; the Internet of Things; media and entertainment; and security, among others.

The GSMA 100 will be selected in three cohorts per year, with the first 29 companies revealed.

“The GSMA 100 initiative is driven by our operator members, based on their common innovation priorities, and is designed to identify those companies with the most compelling use cases and innovative business models,” said Laxmi Akkaraju, Chief Strategy Officer, GSMA.

“This programme will be critical in accelerating business development, commercial partnerships and investment with mobile operator and key partners and, ultimately, in the deployment of next-generation networks and digital services that will benefit billions of subscribers around the world.”

The GSMA 100 are nominated by GSMA operator members, ecosystem companies and leading technology investors and primarily include growth-stage, venture-backed companies from their portfolios, partnerships or interest areas.

Following a competitive review process, the nominations are evaluated and narrowed to yield the final cohorts.

The first companies named to the GSMA 100 include: 3TEN8, Affirmed Networks, AISense, Allganize, Anomali, BehavioSec, BigPanda, Cape, Centrify, Cleverciti, Couchbase, d.rect, Dashbot, Devo, FullStory, Fungible, Headspin, LotusFlare, MobiledgeX, Rombit, Sedona Systems, Sentience, TRIPP, Verdigris, Versa Networks, Worldsensing, Xage and Zimperium.

This portfolio reflects corporate venture investment by Deutsche Telekom, KDDI, NTT DOCOMO, SoftBank, T-Venture, Telstra Ventures, Verizon Ventures and Vodafone, among others.

The remaining two cohorts for the GSMA 100 will be made public in February 2019 at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, and in June 2019 at Mobile World Congress Shanghai.