Rebellions, a Korean fabless startup in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors, has recently received recognition with an enterprise value of almost $606 million (800 billion won).
The company has also attracted a significant investment of $75.8 million. This is the highest valuation among unlisted AI semiconductor startups in Korea.
Rebellion recently received $128 million in a Series B round, with a post-money valuation of $599 million as of December 8, according to the investment banking industry.
The valuation of the company has increased to over $303 million in about 18 months since it raised Series A investment at a price of $265 million in June last year. However, there are still more institutions expected to commit, and many anticipate the final valuation of the company to reach around 800 billion won in total.
Some analysts suggest that Rebellion's reported valuation of $682 million is based on the assumption of full dilution, meaning that the number of shares listed in the shareholder register is not only the number of shares, but also the number of stock options that will be converted in the future.
In this round, strategic investors such as KT, one of the biggest telecommunication companies in Korea, and KDB Industrial Bank invested $2.2 million each, while Pavilion, a subsidiary of Singapore's sovereign wealth fund Temasek, reportedly invested $1.5 million.
KB Securities and Noh & Partners invested $1.5 million, while SV Investment and IMM Investment reportedly contributed smaller funds.
It is noteworthy that Rebellions managed to secure funding, despite the scandal involving Fadu, a Korean semiconductor company accused of false accounting and fraudulent listing. However, it is expected that AI semiconductor companies may face challenges in going public due to the aftermath of the Fadu incident.
There are concerns about the high spending on a company that has yet to generate substantial revenue despite its own high expenditure, leading to negative comments on the investment.
This article was originally published on Dec. 11, 2023.