Seoul: Financial authorities have announced the approval of a substantial 560 billion-won (US$380.6 million) investment in Upstage Co., a South Korean artificial intelligence (AI) startup. This marks the second direct investment by the Korea National Growth Fund, as confirmed by the Financial Services Commission (FSC). The decision was reached during a deliberation committee meeting held on Thursday.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Upstage, founded in 2020, is a unicorn startup with a valuation exceeding 1 trillion won. The company specializes in developing AI solutions and large language models (LLM). This investment makes Upstage the second recipient of funds from the policy-driven Korea National Growth Fund, following Rebellions Inc., a company known for designing neural processing units for AI inference.

The deliberation committee also approved four additional funding plans during the meeting. Among these is a 400 billion-won equity investment dedicated to constructing an AI computing center in South Jeolla Province. The Korea National Growth Fund was introduced last year with the objective of nurturing startups in key strategic industries, including AI, biotechnology, and semiconductors. The government aims to amass up to 150 trillion won from both private and public sectors, with plans to manage the fund over the next five years.