This article was displayed on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 3:53 p.m. on Mar. 19, 2026.
Saje Partners, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital (VC) firm, is moving to make a large investment in the domestic artificial intelligence (AI) startup Upstage. It is reported to be planning to commit more than 100 billion won. Buoyed by Saje Partners' investment commitment, Upstage plans to secure additional funding from the Public Growth Fund.
According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 19th, Saje Partners recently confirmed its participation in Upstage's pre-IPO (pre-listing fundraising). It is a result about three months after Upstage began fundraising late last year, and the firm is understood to have created a separate project fund and committed to invest more than 100 billion won.
Upstage's corporate value was assessed at about 1.3 trillion won on a pre-money value (valuation before fundraising) basis. In addition to Saje Partners, existing financial investors (FI) such as Mirae Asset Venture Investment are reviewing participation in the pre-IPO, and it is reported that Upstage is set to secure up to 200 billion won.
Upstage, a Generative AI development startup, was founded in 2020. Natural Language Processing (NLP) and document understanding technology are cited as its core strengths. In particular, based on its proprietary large language model (LLM) "SOLAR," it is rolling out AI services applicable across a range of industries including finance, law, and manufacturing.
Saje Partners is a cross-border VC with offices in the United States and Seoul, and is said to have rated highly Upstage's competitiveness in AI technology development. Upstage's LLM SOLAR was also named among "noteworthy next-generation AI models" by Epoch AI, a U.S. nonprofit AI research organization.
Upstage's move to acquire the portal site Daum was also evaluated positively. In Jan., Upstage signed a memorandum of understanding to acquire 100% equity of the operator (AXZ) of Daum and began due diligence. The goal is to secure data for LLM development.
Some expect that the scale of Upstage's pre-IPO fundraising could jump to around 400 billion won. This is because Upstage plans to leverage Saje Partners' investment commitment to also go after funding from the K-Nvidia promotion project, which applies a direct equity investment method by the Public Growth Fund.
The K-Nvidia promotion project is a policy financing scheme the government rolled out to foster AI and the semiconductor industry, with the gist being to match private investment with policy funds from the Public Growth Fund. After securing 200 billion won in investment, Upstage is aiming for an additional 200 billion won in policy funds.
Previously, the Public Growth Fund selected AI Semiconductor fabless (design-specialized) company Rebellions as the first investment destination for the K-Nvidia promotion project. Mirae Asset Group, No and Partners, IMM Investment, and Intervest are investing 300 billion won, and the Public Growth Fund is matching 300 billion won with the Korea Development Bank, in a co-investment structure.
An IB industry source said, "Saje Partners has finalized a 100 billion won investment, and as existing FIs have begun actively reviewing investments, it appears 200 billion won can be secured," adding, "I understand that the Public Growth Fund's investment screening committee has also begun reviewing a direct equity investment in Upstage."