Korean AI startups Allganize, Neurophet raise over $35 mn

South Korea’s artificial intelligence technology startups Allganize Inc. and Neurophet Inc. raised about 47 billion won ($35 million) in total in their latest funding rounds, underscoring the growing demand for AI technology in industries across the board.  

Allganize, the Houston, Texas-headquartered AI startup co-founded by Korean Chief Executive Lee Changsoo in 2017, successfully closed a Series B funding round after raising $20 million.

InterVest, Murex Partners, KB Investment, LG Technology Ventures and SK Telecom Co. joined its existing backers such as Atinum Investment, Stonebridge Ventures and FuturePlay in the latest funding round.

SK Telecom on Monday announced that it invested 5.4 billion won in Allganize.

The AI startup provides more than 200 corporate clients in the US, Japan and Korea with its all-in-one large language model (LLM) programs.

It sets its sights on an initial public offering on the Japanese stock bourse in 2025.

Its AI tools, including Alli LLM Enabler and generative AI Alli Answer, are widely used by companies to improve their productivity, the company explained.

Its founder Lee, a computer engineering graduate of Korea’s prestigious science and technology research university KAIST, used to work for SK Telecom and GameOn and started mobile game analysis startup 5Rocks in 2010, which was sold to Tapjoy later.   

NEUROPHET COMPLETES A SERIES C ROUND

Neurophet, a Korean startup developing AI-powered medical solutions for brain diseases, recently raised 20 billion won in a Series C round.

A total of 10 Korean investors, including KB Securities and Mirae Asset Securities, joined existing investors Kolon Investment and Prophet Asset Management in the latest funding round.

Founded in 2016, the company plans to next year roll out its new AI analysis program that can detect side effects of Alzheimer’s disease treatments with a microhemorrhage diagnosis.

The Korean AI startup is famous for its flagship AI analysis technologies, Neurophet AQUA, which is a brain MRI analysis technology, and Neurophet SCALE PET, an AI-based positron emission tomography (PET) image analysis program.  

It plans to go public in Korea next year, said Neurophet CEO Bin Joon-gil, adding that it is currently working with its underwriter Mirae Asset Securities for the IPO.

The two AI startups’ funding comes as startups are still grappling with a funding drought, underscoring the growing demand for AI technology across the board.

Write to Jong-Woo Kim at jongwoo@hankyung.com


Sookyung Seo edited this article.