[For more diverse corporate information on the startups mentioned in this article, please refer to the 'Data Lab' of the Unicorn Factory big data platform .]
A total of seven startups announced investment rounds during the fourth week of October (the 19th–23): MyBenefit, Olso Care, The Hyusik, Nation A, Traceweave, Anybridge, and Trioer. Five of these are artificial intelligence (AI) startups. They are developing AI-powered digital devices, video production tools, and other products. AI is described as a highly attractive business area not only in global securities markets but also in the venture capital industry.
Two startups that do not focus on AI technology, Deuhyuksik and Trioer, each secured mega-deals (investments of 10 billion won or more), raising 65 billion won and 33 billion won, respectively. Deuhyuksik is an IT and comprehensive solution startup that provides one-stop services for the entire lodging industry process. It has internalized everything from data-based business feasibility analysis to hotel project management (PM), space planning and construction, outsourced operations, unmanned monitoring, and IT solutions. Trioer, which attracted the second-highest amount of investment, operates two platforms for developing antibody treatments and antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs).
MyBenefit Raises 3 Billion Won in Series A Funding as Inbody Joins as Strategic Investor
Digital healthcare company MyBenefit announced on the 19th that it has secured a Series A investment of 3 billion won. Investors in the round include InBody, the world's leading body composition analysis device manufacturer, and the Sports Industry Fund of Funds (Korea Venture Fund) under the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation.
My Benefit previously received a 4 billion won investment from NH Investment & Securities, WE Regional Enterprise Development Fund, Korea Biotechnology Investment, Bogwang Investment, T Investment, and Alpenroot Asset Management. With this round, the cumulative investment amount has increased to 7 billion won.
Particular attention in the industry is focused on InBody, widely regarded as the leading player in the body composition analysis market, stepping in as a strategic investor in MyBenefit. MyBenefit and InBody were previously jointly selected for a research and development project to develop AI healthcare solutions under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, establishing a cooperative framework between the two companies. Going forward, the two companies plan to integrate InBody's body composition data with MyBenefit's posture and physical fitness measurement data on a single platform, launching a healthcare service that covers everything from the musculoskeletal system to body composition, blood pressure, and grip strength.
MyBenefit's flagship product, "Virtual Mate," leverages 3D motion recognition technology to analyze users' joint movements and physical fitness in real time while providing AI coaching. It comprises 579 exercise programs, including specialized content for four major chronic conditions such as sarcopenia and prediabetes. The company has also obtained certifications including the Public Procurement Service's innovative product designation, a GS Grade 1 rating, and Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certification for medical device manufacturing.
The company is building a diverse track record centered on the public sector market, including nationwide health centers and welfare facilities, smart offices of major corporations, physical fitness assessments for central government civil servants, Seoul City's "Seoul-style AI Fitness Test," and the "Wrist Doctor 9988" program. This year, it was selected for the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's "Scale-up Technology Commercialization Support Project." It is also promoting exports to major Asian countries such as Japan, Thailand, and Singapore.
Jung Seok-mo, CEO of MaLee Be-ne-pit (CEO), said, “This investment is the result of the market recognizing the technological capabilities and content competitiveness we have built over time.” He added, “Based on the investment funds, we will accelerate technological innovation and enhance our content, aiming to grow into a global healthcare company.”
“Creating a low-cost AI video production environment” … Nation A secures 8.5 billion won in investment
AI (artificial intelligence) video production company Nation A announced on the 21st that it has completed a Series A funding round of 8.5 billion won. The cumulative amount raised through investment is now 11.7 billion won.
In this investment round, Hana Securities, an existing shareholder, participated in follow-up investment, while KDB Industrial Bank, Hyundai Investment Partners, and Ilshin Venture Capital joined as new investors.
Nation A has expanded its business scope from video production to viewing and interaction, leveraging the story-based video generation technology, user data, and service operation experience it has accumulated through operating video production tools and an interactive drama platform.
With this investment, the company plans to unveil a renewed AI video production platform. The concept is to connect key production processes—from image, audio, and voice generation to video creation and editing—into a single workflow, thereby reducing the inconvenience of users switching between multiple tools and lowering production costs.
The core underpinning this is the internalization of AI generation and processing infrastructure, as well as production workflows. Nation E is advancing inference optimization for its AI video generation models and research and development on production workflows based on its own GPU (graphics processing unit) infrastructure.
A Nation A representative stated, “We will focus on reducing our reliance on external APIs and improving processing efficiency, while also enhancing the workflow that connects generation and editing to reduce the costs and complexity associated with video production.”
Nation A was selected for the Super Gap Startup 1000+ Project and Scale-up TIPS, following its selection for TIPS (Technology Innovation Promotion System). The company also made the list of the AI First Program under NVIDIA Inception and Google for Startups Accelerator (GFSA).
The investment will be used to enhance the AI video production platform, strengthen GPU-based service infrastructure, develop products, and acquire global customers. The company plans to achieve an early break-even point (BEP) by expanding its paid customer base and improving operational efficiency, while also recruiting top talent.
Yoo Su-yeon, CEO of Lee Syeon-e-i (CEO), said, "If cost is the first concern, there are limits to the mass adoption of AI video production." She added, "We will lower the technical and economic barriers to video production to create an AI video production environment that creators and companies around the world can use on a daily basis, and we will change the cost structure of the global market."
“Value Investment Houses Are Also Hooked” … Deuhuis Raises 65 Billion Won in Pre-IPO
The proptech-based comprehensive lodging solution company The Rest announced on the 20th that it has secured a pre-IPO (pre-listing equity investment) of 65 billion won.
TS Investment and VIP Asset Management participated in this investment round. The round included the sale of existing shares by current shareholders worth 15 billion won. Including this amount, Deuhui's cumulative funding raised has reached 107.8 billion won.
The investment was executed through a 65 billion won project fund jointly managed by TS Investment and VIP Asset Management as co-general partners (Co-GP). TS Investment participated as a follow-on investor in every round from Series A to this pre-IPO, demonstrating strong confidence in the company's growth.
In this project fund, VIP Asset Management, widely regarded as a leading value investment firm, committed 20 billion won of its own capital—the largest amount ever invested by the firm in unlisted companies. This is interpreted as a preemptive investment in promising startups amid a surge in inbound consumption driven by factors such as an increase in foreign tourists.
The Rest, which opened in 2019, is an IT comprehensive solution provider that offers one-stop services covering the entire A-to-Z process of the accommodation industry. The company has internalized its capabilities ranging from data-based feasibility analysis to hotel project management (PM), space planning and construction, outsourced operations, unmanned monitoring, and IT solutions. Its core competitiveness lies in a virtuous cycle structure that significantly reduces costs and timelines compared to individual outsourcing methods, while reinvesting data accumulated on-site into the feasibility review of future developments.
The company has performed property management (PM), operations, and consulting for more than 300 lodging facilities nationwide, including its own brand "Aneuk." The number of locations adopting its proprietary cloud IT solution has surpassed 1,300.
The company’s performance is also on a steep upward trajectory. On a consolidated basis for 2025, revenue reached 181.7 billion won and operating profit was 20.3 billion won, surging approximately 91% and 93%, respectively, year-on-year to maintain a streak of five consecutive years of operating profits.
The company is also expanding its collaborations with global hotel chains. Following a strategic memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed with Marriott International in 2025, The Hyusek concluded a brand agreement for the "Series by Marriott" in February this year and successfully launched its first domestic location, "Aneuk Signature Seoul Guro," in September last month. It is also broadening its scope as a hotel division partner of Coreand Life Infrastructure REIT, a KOSPI-listed real estate investment trust (REIT).
Deuhyusok plans to invest up to 10 billion won by 2027, based on this actual combat experience, to aggressively expand its lineup of three- and four-star midscale hotels. Rather than directly purchasing buildings, the company will focus on property management (PM) and operations, adopting an "asset-light" approach to target key hubs such as Seoul, the metropolitan area, and Busan. The target timing for its initial public offering (IPO) is 2028.
Lee Dae-yeol, an executive director at TS Investment, stated, "Deo Hui-sok possesses the rare capability to directly apply extensive on-site data to planning and value-add initiatives." He further assessed it as a "unique offline comprehensive platform that encompasses everything from space planning to unmanned systems and centralized integrated monitoring."
Shin Hyun-wook, co-CEO of Deu Hyusik, said, "Building on the competitiveness we have proven in small and mid-sized hotels, we will strengthen our collaboration with global chains to leap forward as a leading player in the 3rd- to 4-star hotel market."
Olsso Care, an AI-based musculoskeletal diagnosis and rehabilitation solution provider, secures 3.4 billion won in Pre-A funding
AI-based musculoskeletal digital therapeutics (DTx) developer AllsoCare announced on the 19th that it has secured pre-Series A funding of 3.42 billion won. Including seed investment from FuturePlay last year, AllsoCare's cumulative funding now totals 4.24 billion won.
This pre-Series A round was led by __Daewoong Investment__, the corporate venture capital (CVC) arm of the Daewoong Pharmaceutical Group, with participation from Taurus Partners, Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, J&P Medi Partners, and Olbareun Pharma.
Orthopedic surgeon Kim Jong-ho (Prof.) at Yeouido St. Mary's Hospital, Catholic University of Korea, founded Olso Care in 2024. The company is developing technology that quantitatively measures range of motion (ROM) and muscle strength using only 2D camera footage. Based on this technology, it is creating solutions including the "Anapa PS," a medical device for measuring musculoskeletal function in hospitals; the "Anapa ME," a digital therapeutic device for personalized rehabilitation exercises for patients; and the "Anapa Hub," an integrated management portal for medical staff.
The hospital-grade measurement medical device "Anapa PS" demonstrated its measurement reliability (ROM 99%, muscle strength 97%) through publication in a SCIE-indexed international orthopedic academic journal (CiOS), and has been adopted by 25 medical institutions nationwide, including eight hospitals under the Catholic Medical Center, Seoul National University Hospital, Asan Medical Center, and Korea University Hospital.
Recently, the company received approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety for a confirmatory clinical trial plan for the frozen shoulder indication of its rehabilitation exercise therapy device, "Anapa ME," and is currently advancing clinical trials with major university hospitals in Korea.
Olso Care plans to use the investment funds for expanding clinical trials and distribution of its medical institutional investors, as well as obtaining regulatory approvals in the United States and Europe to enter global markets.
Kim Jong-ho, CEO of Olso Care, stated, "With this Series A funding round and the approval for confirmatory clinical trials by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, we will firmly establish robust clinical evidence for institutional investors. We aim to set a global standard for musculoskeletal medical AI that covers everything from surgery to home rehabilitation."
"Appropriate automatic allocation of AI semiconductors, cost reduction": Anibridge secures seed investment
AI (artificial intelligence) infrastructure software startup AnyBridge announced on the 22nd that it has secured seed investment from The Ventures. The investment amount is undisclosed.
AniBridge is developing a "multi-accelerator runtime" that leverages different AI semiconductors, such as GPUs (graphics processing units), NPUs (neural network processors), and PIM (processing-in-memory), according to service characteristics, along with an enterprise AI agent platform. A key feature of the system is its ability to automatically assign the semiconductor best suited for a given task, reducing inference costs by 40% to 70% compared to GPU-only infrastructure.
AniBridge is a startup co-founded by Park Jong-se and Kwon Yeong-jin (Prof.), both professors in the Department of Computer Science at KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology). The two professors have published a total of over 110 papers at top-tier academic conferences in the field of computer system architecture, and hold 26 patents related to AI systems. Professor Kunle Olukotun of Stanford University, co-founder of SambaNova, is also participating as an advisor.
Park Jong-se (CEO) founded the company based on an LLM serving simulator technology that was open-sourced by a university research team. The technology received the Best Paper Award and the Best Artifact Award at the 2024 International Workshop on Workload Characterization (IISWC). Follow-up research was accepted to ISPASS 2026, where it also won the conference’s Best Paper Award.
AniBridge was also selected for the TIPS (Technology Innovation Partnership Support) program, an R&D support initiative by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, based on investment from The Ventures and its recommendation. Leveraging the funding and TIPS selection, AniBridge plans to conduct pilots with two to three clients within this year. It also aims to verify service performance and operational stability in a cloud environment through a proof of concept (PoC) with Kakao Cloud. The company targets the official release of its product next year.
Kim Cheol-u (CEO), who led this investment at The Ventures, said, "As more companies begin to deploy generative AI in real-world services, the burden of operating costs is growing just as significantly as model performance does." He added, "AniBridge is a team capable of expanding LLM execution environments, which have been concentrated on GPUs, to various AI semiconductors. We expect this will substantially reduce companies' AI adoption costs."
Park Jong-se, CEO of Anibridge, stated, "While various AI semiconductors are emerging beyond GPUs, the software that allows companies to utilize them together is still in its early stages." He added, "Starting with the official product launch in 2027, we will establish integrated operational standards that enable companies to focus on LLM services without hardware constraints."
On-device AI startup Traceweave raises 3 billion won in seed funding
On-device AI startup Traceweave announced on the 21st that it has secured a seed investment of 3 billion won. Mirae Asset Capital, Quad Ventures, Naver D2SF, and Antler Korea participated in the investment round. In this funding round, Traceweave was valued at a corporate valuation of 30 billion won.
Traceweave established its corporate entity in October last year through Antler Korea's company-building program, "Startup Generator." The company develops artificial intelligence for physical edge applications such as automobiles, robots, and drones, as well as digital edge devices including smartwatches and augmented reality (AR) glasses.
TraceWeave Park Jae-yeong (CEO) has taken on the role of corporate strategy at Google and 42dot. The company’s CTO (Chief Technology Officer), who graduated from ETH Zurich’s Computational Shin Gyeong-gwa-hak (Dr.), along with researchers from KAIST’s Vision AI Lab, directly develop everything from architecture design to pre-training and inference engines.
The core technology is the independently developed post-transformer architecture, "Phase-TITAN." It operates continuously with fixed-size memory without using KV cache for context processing. By handling inference on-device, it eliminates cloud call costs and reduces response latency and external data transmission. The company is also developing a world model that can be used for long-duration simulation and behavior verification in robotics and autonomous driving AI.
Commercialization validation is also underway. The vehicle AI agent was operated in internal testing using a single CPU core and less than 1GB of memory. It is currently undergoing model performance verification with an automotive electronic control software company in the United States. A paid proof of concept (PoC) in the field of driving data analysis has been completed with an autonomous driving subsidiary of a global automaker group. This year, it was selected as one of the 20th finalists at the NVIDIA Inception Grand Challenge.
Jung Sa-eun, a partner at Antler Korea, stated, "This is a team that is connecting its proprietary AI core technology with performance validation by global automotive companies," adding, "We expect the scope of application for on-device AI to expand."
[Money Today Startup Media Platform Unicorn Factory]
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