Early-stage startups dive into 'Vertical AI'… Venture capital floods in during the first week of October

[For more diverse corporate information on the startups featured in this article, please visit Data Lab on the Unicorn Factory big data platform.]

Domestic venture investment during the first week of October (the 5th–9) focused on 'Vertical AI' startups that use artificial intelligence (AI) to solve problems in specific industries. The application areas for AI became even more specialized, ranging from video production and content localization to healthcare, accounting and document management, and e-commerce data analysis.

Companies that secured investment during this period (based on public disclosures) included Bigk, UnAI, Waveina, The Manta Story, Fashionate, Incorrupt, and CCK Solutions, for a total of seven firms.

Investment rounds were primarily at early stages such as pre-seed, seed, and pre-Series A, alongside bridge investments to secure funding before advancing to subsequent stages, and strategic investments aimed at creating business synergies.

The sector that stood out most for venture investment was content and media. The Manta Story, which develops an AI engine for long-form commercial videos, secured seed investment from Series Ventures, an accelerator specializing in the southeastern region.

The Manta Story's 'theROAD' supports the visual effects (VFX) production process, including script input, AI image generation, video sequence linking, and final review. It enables work that previously required dozens of people over several months to be carried out by a small team, reducing production time and costs by up to 70%.

theROAD is characterized by fine-tuning its AI model using an in-house intellectual property (IP) library to address the copyright and quality issues associated with general-purpose generative AI. The company holds seven patents related to AI and digital twins, in addition to 25 years of production experience gained through VFX work on projects such as 'Train to Busan,' 'Peninsula,' and 'Jeong-i.'

AI media solutions firm UnAI received pre-Series A investment from Ilshin Venture Capital. Based on voice and media AI technologies, including AI dubbing, UnAI is engaged in multilingual content localization.

The core of its business model is to lower language barriers for content and enhance production efficiency in the global FAST (free ad-supported streaming television) and OTT markets. The company has also expanded into the sports media sector by combining voice AI with sports match data to generate AI casters and commentary tailored to game situations.

Entertainment technology firm Bigk secured Series A bridge investment from Daesung Venture Capital and Now IV Capital. Bigk provides ticket booking, real-time live streaming of concerts, merchandise sales, fan marketing, and data analysis on a single platform, linked to the world tours of K-pop and K-culture artists.

The platform has 3.9 million subscribers across 232 countries worldwide. The repurchase rate among users with prior payment experience is 81%. Bigk plans to use the funds raised this time to enhance global fandom data and AI technology, and to build an 'Entertainment OS (Operating System)' that connects world tours, ticketing, and commerce.

In the healthcare sector, ECG-based AI technology attracted investor interest. Waveina secured seed investment worth 200 million won from Seoul National University Technology Holdings, and was also selected for the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' private-investment-driven technology startup support program, 'TIPS.'

Waveina has developed an AI solution that predicts more than 30 types of blood biomarker levels using ECG data measured over 10 seconds without a blood draw. While traditional blood tests require sample collection, transport, and analysis, Waveina is advancing its technology with the goal of providing predictive results within seconds.

Its core competitiveness lies in more than 4 million matched ECG and blood test data points acquired from Seoul National University Hospital's main campus, Bundang Seoul National University Hospital, and Seoul National University Hospital Gangnam Center. The company recorded excellent prediction and classification performance in models designed to detect major abnormal conditions such as hyperkalemia, renal dysfunction, anemia, and heart failure.

Funds also flowed into the enterprise AI sector, which aims to improve business efficiency for companies. CCK Solutions secured strategic investment from AI semiconductor firm Rebellions.

CCK Solutions' flagship product, 'Noa,' is an AI platform that automates vast and complex document work. Starting as an accounting solution that performs audit procedures, prepares audit reports, and conducts comprehensive verification of large volumes of transaction records, it has since expanded its application to office and financial tasks.

The company has secured major domestic accounting firms as clients, with the combined number of accountants at these clients reaching approximately half of all accountants in South Korea. With this investment, the goal is to enhance a 'domestic AI full stack' by integrating Rebellions' NPU (Neural Processing Unit) with Noa, linking hardware and software.

Cho Hyeon-soo, CEO of CCK Solutions, stated, "Building on the achievements we have accumulated in four Asian regions—Vietnam, Mongolia, Singapore, and Hong Kong—we will expand into markets such as the United States in the future." He added, "We aim to create cases where our technology, validated domestically, is used by overseas public institutional investors and accounting firms in the field."

Incorrupt, which operates the proprietary mall data analysis service 'CatchPrice,' received pre-seed investment from Neo Six Private Investment Fund No. 1.

CatchPrice collects customer behavior data generated on proprietary malls to analyze churn and conversion flows, providing insights through dashboards and AI-based reports. To date, it has analyzed more than 100 million instances of customer behavior data, with over 100 proprietary malls utilizing the service.

Based on this investment, Incorrupt plans to expand its business beyond data analysis toward solving operational challenges for e-commerce brands, including securing specialized talent and diversifying traffic channels for proprietary malls.

In fields other than AI, Fashionate, which operates the home training brand 'FITABLE,' secured seed investment from CNTech.

Fashionate directly plans, designs, and manufactures home training and sports equipment, distributing them through a D2C (Direct-to-Consumer) model. The company aims for 'fitness objects' that not only function as exercise equipment but also look aesthetically pleasing in a living room. Its representative products include the aerobic exercise machine 'StepMate' and the doorframe-mounted 'Object Pull-up Bar.'

The company is also accelerating its overseas expansion, having secured local subsidiaries in Japan and Taiwan, as well as a distribution partner in Hong Kong. With this investment, it aims to expand its product lineup and grow into a global home training brand centered on the Asian market.

Goo Su-hyun, CEO of Fashionate, emphasized, "Exercise equipment is an item that stays in one corner of the home for a long time, so it must look good even when not in use." He added, "Starting with Japan and Taiwan, we will grow FITABLE into a representative brand for overseas home training."

[MoneyToday startup media platform 'Unicorn Factory']