Upstage completed the first close of its series C at 180 billion won, becoming the first unicorn in Korea's generative artificial intelligence (AI) industry. Upstage said on the 15th that this round valued the company at more than 1 trillion won.
Silicon Valley–based global venture capital firm Sage Partners joined as the lead investor, with Premier Partners, Shinhan Venture Investment, Mirae Asset Venture Investment, KB Securities, and Intervest participating in the follow-on. In addition, Axiom Asia; Hyundai Motor and Kia; Woori Venture Partners; and IBK Industrial Bank of Korea joined as new investors. With this closing, Upstage's cumulative funding rose to about 400 billion won.
Upstage has targeted industry-specific niche markets with its in-house large language model "Solar" and its document-processing AI "Document Parse." Solar is in actual operation at Fortune 500 corporations including Samsung, as well as at domestic insurers and public institutions, and the company said it has maintained annual revenue growth of more than 130% on that basis.
Last year, Upstage was selected as the lead organization for an independent foundation model project, and more recently it has accelerated preparations for an IPO. It has also moved to expand overseas operations, including establishing a U.S. entity and developing a Japan-focused small language model.
Upstage plans to focus this funding on expanding GPU infrastructure, hiring key talent, and entering overseas markets such as the United States and Japan.
Kim Sung-hoon, Upstage's CEO, said, "This investment goes beyond simple fundraising and shows the market's confidence in Upstage's technology and performance," adding, "We will further advance a competitive in-house AI model for the global market and become a company that proves itself with revenue, not valuation."