This article was displayed on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 11:59 a.m. on Apr. 14, 2026.
Artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor startup Exina (formerly MetisX) has effectively finalized a new 150 billion won fundraising. The company initially aimed to raise 100 billion won, but investor interest surged, focusing on Exina's growth and the liquidity flocking to AI Semiconductor corporations, leading to an overbooking (oversubscription).
According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 14th, Exina recently closed recruitment for Series B investors. It comes a little over three months after the company began reaching out in earnest to financial investors (FI), including venture capital (VC), at the start of the year with a goal of raising 100 billion won in new funds. It secured investors including Atinum Investment and raised 150 billion won.
Specifically, Atinum Investment stepped in as the lead investor. In addition, existing FIs such as IMM Investment and LB Investment were understood to have decided on large follow-on investments. A VC industry source said, "As a significant number of existing FIs decided on follow-on investments, the fundraising size grew substantially."
Exina was founded in 2022 as an AI Semiconductor fabless startup. Its main focus is developing a computing-function-converged memory chip that enables faster and more efficient data exchange among central processing units (CPU), graphics processing unit (GPU) accelerators, and memory. Last year, it also unveiled the next-generation memory chip "MX1."
MX1 was launched as a new chip based on Computing Express Link (CLX). It is a technology that solves large-scale data access, which is difficult for CPUs and GPUs to handle, at the memory level, and is called the next-generation memory following high bandwidth memory (HBM). It is cited as a solution that can maximize the efficiency of AI and databases servers.
Investors were said to have highly valued Exina's manpower and rapid pace of technology development. In addition to releasing MX1 last year, roughly three years after its founding, the company recently supplied MX1 samples to global big tech firms and began proof of concept (PoC). The company plans to start mass production of MX1 this year and generate revenue next year.
Key personnel include many from Samsung Electronics and SK hynix. Chief Executive Kim Jin-young, the founder, worked at both Samsung Electronics and SK hynix. Before founding the company, Kim was better known as the youngest executive at SK hynix. Exina's chief technology officer (CTO) and chief product officer (CPO) also came from SK hynix.
Government projects to foster "K-Nvidia," among others, have also driven a surge of capital into deep tech, including AI, becoming a catalyst for Exina's overbooking in fundraising. Competition among institutional investors to secure equity in promising technology corporations before valuations climb further has become fiercer than ever.
Exina's valuation has in fact jumped significantly. It was reported to be recognized at around 700 billion won in enterprise value in the Series B round. Compared with the approximately 250 billion won valuation recognized during the 60 billion won Series A fundraising in May 2024, its valuation has roughly tripled over two years.
An IB industry official said, "Although startup investment sentiment has been dampened by the effects of high interest rates and an economic slowdown recently, polarization has become pronounced as funds instead flock to deep tech corporations with solid technological prowess like Exina," adding, "Competition among institutional investors to secure allocations is intense."