AI Startup Lab

Mergers & Acquisitions Soon for sale: Altos Ventures-backed Cafe Knotted operator

Silicon Valley-based Altos Ventures-backed Good Food For Good (GFFG), operator of South Korea’s popular dessert cafe, Cafe Knotted, will likel...

Korean games NCSOFT invests in US game startup emptyvessel

NCSOFT Corp. has made an equity investment in emptyvessel, a US indie games studio, as part of efforts to expand into the first-person shooter genre...

Corporate strategy Samsung seeks tech alliance with top US universities for robotics, AI, 6G

In an ambitious bid to shape the future of technology, Samsung Electronics Co. is launching a sweeping initiative to collaborate with elite North Am...

Beauty & Cosmetics Packaging rides K-beauty wave: Shares of cosmetics container makers soar

As South Korea’s independent beauty brands continue to take the global stage by storm, investors are now looking beyond the creams and serums ...

Games S.Korea’s Krafton to nurture 6 new game studios in India

Krafton Inc., the publisher of global mega-hit “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds” (PUBG), has selected six new Indian game studios to...

E-commerce Naver, Kurly tie up to counter e-commerce giant Coupang

South Korea’s online giant Naver Corp. and dawn grocery platform service provider Kurly Inc. have joined forces for a potential stake acquisit...

Korean chipmakers SK Hynix bets on 3D HBM as next game-changer in AI chip race

SK Hynix Inc., the world’s top DRAM memory chipmaker, aims to redefine the competitive landscape in artificial intelligence memory chips with ...

Tech, Media & Telecom Samsung fends off Apple to reclaim global smartphone crown in Q1

Samsung Electronics Co. has regained its position as the world’s top smartphone vendor in the first quarter, outpacing Apple Inc. despite the ...

Artificial intelligence KT rolls out Thai-tailored large language model

South Korean telecom service provider KT Corp. has built a large language model (LLM) platform tailored for the Thai market in collaboration with Ja...

Tech, Media & Telecom Samsung, Google to unveil smart glasses next year in deeper AI alliance

Samsung Electronics Co. and Google LLC are strengthening their long-standing alliance as the artificial intelligence (AI) era redefines the balance ...

Beauty & Cosmetics Korea launches $27 mn fund to invest in K-beauty startups

South Korea’s Ministry of SMEs and Startups on Thursday announced the launch of a 40 billion won ($27 million) fund to invest in Korean beauty...

Private equity Geopolitics rewrite investment playbook – and that’s an opportunity: KKR

In an era of escalating geopolitical uncertainty, the head of one of the world’s largest private equity firms sees opportunity – not ret...

Electronics Samsung unveils upgraded AI-powered OLED TVs

Samsung Electronics Co. on Monday showcased its new lineup of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) TVs with advanced artificial intelligence features...

Private equity MBK sees better exit landscape in 2025, bets on governance reform

MBK Partners sees a recovery in the exit environment in 2025 and seeks to capitalize on the opportunities emerging from corporate governance reform ...

Korean chipmakers SK Hynix aims to lock in all 2026 HBM orders by mid-2025

SK Hynix Inc., the world’s largest supplier of high-bandwidth memory (HBM), aims to lock in orders for its entire 2026 HBM output by the end o...

Leadership & Management Naver to build sovereign AI, says founder Lee after return

South Korea’s No. 1 internet portal operator Naver Corp. will build strong sovereign artificial intelligence to fight the growing dominance of...

Venture capital South Korean VCs back US humanoid robot developer Apptronik

South Korean venture capital firms invested undisclosed tens of billions of won, equivalent to tens of millions of dollars, in US humanoid-developin...

Bio & Pharma SillaJen: First to use lab-grown human tissue to find best cancer drug dose

South Korean biotechnology firm SillaJen Inc. is pioneering a new approach to determine the best dose for a cancer drug combination in clinical tria...

Artificial intelligence LG takes on Big Tech AI in reasoning with Exaone Deep

LG AI Research, the artificial intelligence (AI) research and development unit of South Korea's LG Group, has unveiled Exaone Deep, an open-source A...

Games Krafton invests in 10 overseas game startups in 2024

Krafton Inc. invested in 10 overseas game developers in 2024 in search of the next big franchise intellectual property (IP) following its mega-hit t...

Shipping & Shipbuilding HD Hyundai, Palantir chiefs discuss AI shipyard, defense technology

Chung Kisun, executive vice chairman of the world’s largest shipbuilder HD Hyundai Co., has met with Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir Technologies I...

Aerospace & Defense Hanwha Aerospace, L3Harris anchor Shield AI’s $240 mn funding

South Korean defense company Hanwha Aerospace Co. and US weapons systems developer L3Harris Technologies Inc. have led a $240 million funding round ...

Korean chipmakers SK Hynix to exit image sensor market to focus on AI chips

SK Hynix Inc. will shutter its image sensor business as the South Korean memory giant doubles down on the development of premium artificial intellig...

Korean startups Hyundai Motor spins off 4 in-house startups in energy, AI, mobility

South Korea’s auto behemoth Hyundai Motor Group has spun off its four in-house startups with innovative technologies in mobility, automation a...

Korean startups South Korea loses tech startups at rapid clip amid dwindling funding

Concerns are growing that the tech startup ecosystem in South Korea, home to global tech household name Samsung Electronics Co., would be trapped in...

Sovereign wealth funds S.Korea’s sovereign fund KIC logs 8.5% return in 2024

The Korea Investment Corporation (KIC) reported an annual return of 8.49% last year thanks to steady gains from equity investments led by the AI tec...

Automobiles Hyundai Motor sets up AI research arm CoMo China

Hyundai Motor Co. in December established CoMo China in Shanghai to spearhead artificial intelligence research and development in its push for softw...

Electronics LG Electronics deepens ties with US startup Apex.AI

LG Electronics Inc. has invested in Apex.AI, a US-based startup developing safety-certified software designed to accelerate the transition of softwa...

Artificial intelligence AI data center with up to 3 gigawatts of power envisioned for South Korea

An investor group is planning one of the world’s largest data centers for artificial intelligence in South Korea, a sign of red-hot AI de...

Mergers & Acquisitions Meta in talks to acquire Korean fabless chip startup FuriosaAI: Forbes

Meta Platforms Inc., the parent of Facebook and Instagram, is in talks to acquire Seoul-based AI chip startup FurisosaAI Inc. and the discussion cou...