The fund will invest in early and emerging growth companies developing transformative 5G products and services.

T-Mobile Ventures is a venture capital fund floated by T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) to focus on early-to-mid stage startups using 5G technology for developing core technologies, products, and services around the areas of edge computing, future of work, security, and industrial IoT.

T-Mobile 5G

T-Mobile’s is the first and only Standalone 5G network with a multi-band 5G strategy. The company is therefore looking for entrepreneurs developing the “next big thing” in 5G that can leverage its network and technology.

According to Barron’s, T-Mobile (TMUS) CEO Mike Sievert said at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia conference last month that the recently completed acquisition of Sprint would unleash spectrum benefits and efficiencies of scale for his company.

He also went on to give the message that the company was building the best 5G network ever. He said the competition would, effectively, be left in the dust.

He said that the 5G “experience is markedly different from what’s out there on 4G LTE today, with eight to 10 times the speed going to be available for customers with 5G phones this year.”

“That’s our opportunity in the 5G era,” he added. “We’re way out in front.”

T-Mobile is now the second-largest wireless provider in the U.S. and has 98.3 million customers including Sprint.

The venture fund

With the specific brief to fuel 5G innovation, T-Mobile Ventures will make multi-year investments in promising startups focussed on this wireless technology.

Founders will receive T-Mobile’s network and engineering expertise, go-to-market infrastructure, and investment backing.

T-Mobile Ventures has roped in corporate venture capital firm Touchdown Ventures to help manage the fund.

T-Mobile collaborates with universities and standards bodies for 5G research and development and runs the T-Mobile Accelerator. It is the co-founder of the 5G Open Innovation Lab.

“With our 5G network at the foundation, we see massive opportunity across both business and consumer segments, and we’re excited to help fuel the wave of 5G applications coming to market in the years ahead,” said Jason Young, Senior Vice President of Partnerships and T-Mobile Ventures.

“Compelling 5G use cases span the range of spectrum bands from low, mid to high, and only TMobile has these assets giving it a 5G network that can support all use cases across every industry,” said Neville Ray, President of Technology at T-Mobile. “Now is the time for the developers, entrepreneurs, and creators to make the magic happen with products and services that will unleash the potential of our 5G network.”

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