[StartupRecipe] VCs Focus on AI Continues in 2024

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#Weekly Funding Overview

[Feb. 5 ~ Feb. 9]

The total funds raised by Korean startups of this week is KRW 86.4 Billion.

Company	Industry	Amount	Round	Investors
NVentric	healthcare	14 billion	Series B	Quad Asset Management, Premier Partners, KDB Development Bank, Shinhan Capital, Genenpartners, CGBIO, UTC Investment, Devsisters Ventures, Heungkuk Securities
SOOPUI	Fashion	-	Seed	Newkids investment
Finder	Coffee	-	Seed	Newkids investment
JLT	Smart factory	3 billion	Seed	Kibo, KB Securities
Bold9	Fulfillment	-	Series B	Posco Capital, Smilegate Investment, UTC Investment
The hyoosik	Accommodation	-		TS Investment
CnerG	Green Energy platform	3 billion	Pre-SeriesA Bridge	Hanwha Investment & Securities, Quantum Ventures Korea, SGC Partners-DSN Investment, Bright Energy Partners
ACTNOVA	Behavior Test Platform	3.3 billion	Pre-Series A	Hana Ventures, A Ventures, Fast Ventures
GI Holdings	Fashion	3.5 billion	Series B	Kudos Ventures
Impactive AI	AI Solution	-	Pre-Series A	IBK
Kai Health	Infertility AI Solution	-	Pre-Series A	IMM Investments, SBVA, Smilegate Investments, Translink Investments
Creativemut	Real time hologram	12 billion	Series A	Woori Investment, Kolon Investment, SL Investment
Uproot company	Digital Asset solution	-	Pre-Series A	Cnttech
Medinode	Healthcare	-	Seed	ENSL Partners
cloud hospital	Healthcare	2 billion	Pre-Series A	SJ Investment Partners, Hi Investment Partners
Provalabs	Healthcare	-	Seed	Seoul Techno Holdings
Arsnetwork	Edutech	-	Seed	Genaxis
Galleriex	Media Content	-	Seed	Genaxis
PRND	Used car platform	45 billion	Series D	Korea Development Bank, Atinum Investment, IMM Investment

#Major Funding

• PRND, operating the used car platform Hey Dealer, raised a 45 billion won investment. As of January this year, the cumulative number of subscribers has reached 13 million, with total transaction amounts surpassing 10 trillion won.
• Creative Mut, utilizing real-time hologram technology to produce videos, secured a 12 billion won investment. Real-time hologram technology allows users to interact with videos, making it a recognized technology for immersive content. With this investment, the company plans to expand real-time hologram events both domestically and internationally.

#Trend Analysis

VCs Focus on AI Continues in 2024

This year’s startup investment has begun with a notable upswing, spearheaded by the dominance of AI startups. AI companies have emerged as the most promising sector for both Korean and global investors. Just as global tech giants like Google, Apple, Nvidia, Amazon, and Microsoft are pouring significant funds into AI startups, Korean conglomerates are also embracing generative AI. Although large companies have scaled back their investments in startups overall, they are strategically directing their resources towards generative AI. Notably, earlier this year, SK Networks invested over 10 billion won in Upstage, while LG U+ bet a similar amount on 42maru.

The edtech sector, which has experienced a sharp decline in investment, recently witnessed its first major investment in a long time, particularly in AI-powered education startups. For instance, Elice Group received a 20 billion won investment to enhance its platform’s AI capabilities. StudyMax, the operator of SpeakingMax, a native speaker AI for English learning, has also integrated technologies such as ChatGPT into education and gained a foothold in the global market with its recent Series C investment, valuing the company at 100 billion won.

In the digital healthcare sector, AI is revolutionizing diagnosis, surgery, and treatment processes. Starups like Connecteve, specializing in musculoskeletal disease treatment, and Kaihealth, offering an AI solution for fertility, have received successful investments. AI-enabled companies in the advertising and manufacturing industries, such as Pyler (10.5 billion won), which uses AI to block harmful videos, and INEEJI (8.1 billion won), an AI prediction solution, have also garnered investor attention.

AI startups are also attracting funding in the early stages of investment. AI product analytics platform Coxwave raised 4.5 billion won at the seed stage alone, and AI cooking robot Aniai secured 15.7 billion won at the pre-Series A stage to establish itself in the U.S. Other early-stage companies that attracted attention include AI dubbing company HudsonAI (3.3 billion won), Optimization of deep learning models SqueezeBits (2.5 billion won), and AI photography platform Paradot (2 billion won).

Despite the slowdown in investment pace last year, investor interest in AI companies remained strong. This year, AI companies across various fields are expected to continue attracting attention from investors.