Foxconn Will Jointly Form A $100 Million Investment Fund To Accelerate Global Enterprise Development

Beijing time on the morning of August 29, Foxconn will work with three companies in Wisconsin to set up a $100 million investment fund to accelerate the birth of technology start-ups worldwide. Apple supplier Foxconn, health care provider Advocate Aurora Health, building materials supplier Johnson Controls and insurance provider Northwest Mutual will each contribute $25 million to the venture capital fund, Wisconn Valley.

The fund will be managed by a Milwaukee-based fund manager and a committee of four companies with one representative each.

Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Johnson Controls will provide a wide range of technology products for buildings, including temperature regulators, safety systems and dampers. Northwestern Mutual is a Financial Services Company based in Milwaukee. Advocate Aurora Health operates 27 hospitals in Wisconsin and Illinois.

Officials from the four companies said they hoped the fund would bring enough good returns to spur innovation in robotics, artificial intelligence and medicine.

"We hope that through this fund, entrepreneurs and start-ups will be able to provide innovative solutions and succeed," Foxconn Chief Executive Terry Gou said in a statement.

Four companies, including Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, announced the founding of the fund at Discovery World in Milwaukee.

"This fund represents the collaboration of the four companies to make Wisconsin a global technology center," Walker said at a news conference.

Foxconn is now building a huge production Park in Wisconsin, us. The company promises to invest up to $10 billion and bring 13 thousand jobs. If these targets are met, Foxconn will receive more than $4 billion in state and local tax incentives, the largest incentive in U.S. history for foreign companies.

On Monday, Foxconn announced it would invest $100 million in engineering and innovation research at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Foxconn staff said this shows that the company is committed to investing in Wisconsin for a long time.
Walker has been advocating the potential benefits of this project for economic development. But his opponent, Democratic governor candidate Tony Evers, criticized the concessions, saying they did not need Foxconn workers to become residents of Wisconsin and that the money would take the state 25 years to recover the investment.

When the Marquette Law School poll showed Walker and Evers were neck and neck, within a week news came of the start-up fund and Foxconn's investment in Madison.

Evers's spokesman, Maggie Gau, did not immediately respond to the incident.