South Korean artificial intelligence company Persona AI has close of a pre-IPO funding round, raising KRW 12 billion. The latest round brings the company’s cumulative total investment to approximately KRW 41 billion. The round was joined by the Defense Innovation Fund co-managed by defense contractor LIG Nex1 and IBK Capital, DB Tech Investment , HB Investment, and AIM Investment.
Persona AI cited the growing potential of its AI models as a core operating system for the rapidly expanding physical AI ecosystem as the primary driver behind pursuing this pre-IPO round. The company’s technology is applicable not only to AI PCs and servers, but also to robots, defense weapons, semiconductors, and various other devices in the form of edge AI — a capability that investors recognized as a strong technological competitive advantage with high commercialization potential.
The company has won the CES Innovation Award for two consecutive years, earning international recognition for its proprietary AI technology capable of operating without internet connectivity or GPU support.
Persona AI’s core business is its Generative AI Contact Center (GEN AICC), which applies generative AI technology to enterprise customer touchpoints using its proprietary AI engine, SONA.
The solution is available in both on-premise and subscription models, targeting clients across the financial sector, general enterprises, and public institutions. The company is also expanding into the edge AI and physical AI space through model lightweighting techniques.
With this pre-IPO round now closed, Persona AI is gearing up for a formal IPO listing on the Korean stock market, with Samsung Securities serving as the lead underwriter. The funds raised are expected to be directed toward AI solution R&D and new business development, including AI semiconductor design.
