Naver D2SF invests in image generation AI startup

South Korea's top online portal Naver Corp. announced on Wednesday that its startup nurturing organization D2SF (D2 Startup Factory) invested in the image generation AI startup NXN Labs.

D2SF explained that it decided to invest based on the technological value and potential of NXN Labs. KB Investment and Smilegate Investment jointly participated in this investment.

NXN Labs attracted its first investment just two months after its incorporation.

NXN Labs is developing image-generation AI models specialized for e-commerce, which can be used for virtual fitting and virtual model creation. The company aims to prepare solutions that can generate high-quality images while preserving the design characteristics of brands.

This year, NXN Labs plans to actively collaborate on reference building in the domestic and international e-commerce and advertising industries and aims to enhance related technologies to launch commercial solutions in North America by next year.

So far, 80% of Naver D2SF investments have been initial investments, and 62% of startups that received institutional investment from D2SF did so within their first month of establishment.

The data-driven logistics startup Techtaka received investment from D2SF one month after its founding and is participating in Naver's guaranteed package arrival solution.

Write to Ji-Eun Jeong at jeong@hankyung.com