K-Ground Ventures Actively Supports Global Expansion of Korea’s Next-Generation Growth Companies

K-Ground Ventures(CEO Namhoon Cho), a leading deep-tech and IP specialized VC and the operator of Scale-up TIPS Program in Korea, announced on the 19th that it participated in the Silicon Valley Summit 2025 in the U.S. at the invitation of Plug and Play Tech Center-the world’s largest open innovation platform and investment firm known for nurturing PayPal, Dropbox and FiscalNote.     During the event, K-Ground Ventures engaged in meetups with global VCs and startups and pledged to actively strengthen cooperation networks aimed at facilitating the entry of Scale-up TIPS companies and other Korean next-generation growth startups into the Silicon Valley ecosystem.   Namhoon Cho, CEO of K-Ground Ventures, who was directly invited by Plug & Play to attend the Silicon Valley Summit 2025, stated, “In a rapidly shifting global landscape marked by protectionism, tariffs, and geopolitical conflicts, Korean startups need to actively respond by establishing overseas subsidiaries, collaborating with other startups, and jointly marketing within the global ecosystem.” He emphasized, “Especially in the scale-up phase, it is critical to partner with VCs that have global networks and exit experience to quickly secure overseas investment, intellectual property (IP), and marketing capabilities.”   Cho is recognized as a global investment expert in deep tech and IP, having led numerous successful global M&As—including the $180 million acquisition of Axio (founded by Koreans in the U.S.) by Cisco—and has been at the forefront of Korea’s deep tech investment sector since his early career in Silicon Valley in the 2000s.   Plug and Play, known as the world’s largest innovation ecosystem and investment platform—with a track record of major investments in Google and others—has announced its intention to enter the Korean market in cooperation with local governments such as Busan and Goyang. It also plans to work with K-Ground Ventures to build a startup investment ecosystem in Korea. Plug and Play hosts the Silicon Valley Summit twice a year, and the first half of 2025's event, held from June 10–12, featured participation from 30 countries, over 300 global VCs, more than 900 global corporations, over 940 startup teams, and over 200 government officials. The summit sparked intense discussions on building a global innovation ecosystem and scaling up startups.   K-Ground Ventures recently organized the “World-Class Enterprise Exchange,” a networking event involving Scale-up TIPS-selected companies and listed firms seeking new growth engines, in partnership with the World-Class Enterprise Association. The firm also led several initiatives including an “IR Event for Scale-up TIPS Operators” with Incheon Technopark, and a “Startup Meetup” in collaboration with the National Bio Lab Hub project team, actively supporting Korean startups’ global expansion.   In addition to investments, K-Ground Ventures places great importance on supporting the growth of its portfolio companies through the creation of converged industry ecosystems. In 2023, the firm spearheaded the “Mobility Healthcare Alliance,” bridging the mobility and healthcare sectors. As a result, joint development agreements were established between its portfolio companies and global automakers within two years. The firm is now also driving the formation of the “AI-Semiconductor Convergence Industry Alliance” with invested startups like Daton and HyperVisual, aiming to play a key role in Korea’s emerging AI industrial ecosystem—which anticipates over 100 trillion KRW in investments during the “Edge Device, Physical AI” era.   Furthermore, K-Ground Ventures is working on launching a global fund in collaboration with overseas capital and networks interested in Korean startups. The fund will focus investments on Scale-up TIPS-selected or promising startups that are either expanding abroad or possess globally valuable IP. The global fund is expected to include contributions from government bodies, local governments, major domestic listed companies, and global corporations as limited partners (LPs), with the goal of completing its formation and beginning investments within 2025. As both an IP fund manager and operator of Scale-up TIPS, K-Ground Ventures plans to actively nurture Korean startups into unicorns by linking with programs like the Scale-up TIPS Global Track and the Global Star Fund managed by Korea’s Fund of Funds, helping startups secure world-class IP and marketing capabilities.      최지원 기자generation expansion ground ventures generation growth conflicts korean

2025.06.19. 17:32

K-Ground Ventures Hosts IR Day to Support Global Expansion of Deep Tech Startups

K-Ground Ventures, a deep tech commercialization-specialized VC and the first operator of the Scale-Up TIPS program, announced on June 2nd that it held an IR Day event on May 27 in collaboration with Incheon Technopark. The event hosted Scale-Up TIPS operators and supported startups aiming for overseas expansion. Selected companies will undergo due diligence, followed by investment to drive global achievements.     Cho Nam-hoon, CEO of K-Ground Ventures and Vice President of the Scale-Up TIPS Association, who served as the chief judge of the IR event, stated, “This IR Day was organized for the first time by bringing together Scale-Up TIPS operator judges to help outstanding startups fostered by Incheon Technopark expand overseas. While R&D capabilities are important, startups aiming for global markets must also focus on solving customer pain points and building market-centered commercialization strategies.” He also noted that before the evaluations, a diagnostics and advisory program (covering business management, global IP acquisition, and investment attraction) was conducted to prepare the companies, and it received positive feedback from the judges. K-Ground Ventures is expected to invest in multiple companies from the event, not just the top-ranked one, following due diligence and further discussions.    “Cooperation between globally competitive mid-sized companies and startups is a necessary opportunity in this changing era.”  On the morning of the 27th, K-Ground Ventures also created opportunities for IR and open innovation by inviting selected Scale-Up TIPS companies and promising startups to a networking event hosted by the World Class Companies Association (Chairman: Lee Jun-hyuk).   Cho Nam-hoon commented, “In this era of rapid change and the AI revolution, mid-sized companies with global scale-up experience and a need for growth engines and collaborative technologies are more open to partnering with startups because of their ability to make quick decisions. Startups should not only seek collaboration with large corporations but also create global scale-up success and build new industrial ecosystems in deep tech by partnering with mid-sized companies.”   K-Ground Ventures is currently operating the Hongneung Advanced Science and Technology Commercialization Funds and the Innovation IP Fund. As the first Scale-Up TIPS operator, it leverages CEO Cho Nam-hoon’s Silicon Valley experience and his previous role as the founding CEO of Korea Science and Technology Holdings (KST), along with a national network of government-funded research institutes, to produce specialized results in deep tech commercialization.   K-Ground’s differentiated value-up strategy focuses on creating new value through open innovation with mid-sized companies and collaboration among portfolio companies, contributing directly to the scale-up of its investees. To execute this strategy, various mid-sized companies are already participating as LPs (limited partners) in its funds to explore new business opportunities and investments, and global expert advisory groups from diverse fields are supporting convergence technology collaborations between startups and portfolio companies to deliver global outcomes.   A notable case was during the 2023 Investor Family Day event, where K-Ground Ventures proposed the Mobility Healthcare Alliance, a convergence commercialization model connecting deep tech startups with regional innovation hubs across Korea. This initiative encouraged the development of globally competitive, breakthrough technologies. Notably, NF, an oxygen supply system company, and Yellowknife, an SDV (Software Defined Vehicle) company founded by former Hyundai Motor employees, joined the alliance and are now engaged in joint development with global mobility firms—making this a leading example of deep tech commercialization and global industry ecosystem building through K-Ground Ventures' collaborative investment model.   Looking ahead, K-Ground Ventures plans to establish a global fund exceeding USD 25 million with U.S.-based KRS Ventures by the end of 2025. As a Scale-Up TIPS operator, it will continue to nurture startups with unicorn potential through the Scale-Up TIPS Global Track and Global Star Fund connections.   최지원 기자expansion ventures ground ventures startups aiming deep tech

2025.06.01. 22:02

HyperVisual AI Secures Investment from K-Ground Ventures Innovation IP Fund for On-Device AI Vision Intelligence

HyperVisual AI, a startup developing on-device vision intelligence solutions that apply AI technology directly on edge devices without relying on cloud connectivity, announced on June 2nd that it has secured investment from K-Ground Ventures, a leading VC in deep tech commercialization in Korea and the first operator of the Scale-up TIPS program.   Founded in 2023, HyperVisual AI is a semiconductor-based AI startup that is developing a General-Purpose Neural Processing Unit (GPNPU)—an AI processor operable on-device—as well as proprietary AI models and frameworks. Their GPNPU architecture, a hybrid structure combining general-purpose GPU computing (GPGPU) and Neural Processing Units (NPU) into a single core, enables efficient low-power AI computation. This technology is considered highly optimized for on-device environments. The company was recently selected for the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' “1000+ Super Gap Startups” program, drawing significant interest from fabless firms, VCs, and investors.   CEO Samyun Jung of HyperVisual AI stated that “We are pleased to have our patent value highly recognized and to have secured investment from the K-Ground Innovation IP Fund, which specializes in deep tech IP investments. HyperVisual AI is actively conducting joint development projects with client companies in the on-device AI industry, where convergent technologies are the key to competitiveness. With our outstanding R&D capabilities and Korea’s deep tech infrastructure, we aim to grow into a global hybrid vision intelligence total solution provider through collaboration with clients and investors.”   Nam-Hoon Cho, CEO of K-Ground Ventures and a leading expert in deep tech technology commercialization, said, “We have long recognized the GPNPU hybrid architecture technology of HyperVisual AI as an innovative IP and technology that can lead the future on-device market. Based on mentorship and business support, we decided to proceed with the investment. The target markets for on-device applications—mobile, consumer electronics, mobility, and robotics—are areas where Korean companies are particularly strong. We believe that competitive Korean firms can lead the global market through convergent technology. Bold government policy support is needed to establish a new ecosystem that will lead the global on-device AI market, which is expected to become a next-generation growth engine.”   K-Ground Ventures also announced that, through this investment, it plans to build an on-device semiconductor alliance in collaboration with organizations like the Fabless Industry Association, and actively work to discover, invest in, and foster innovative companies.   According to a Deloitte report, the on-device AI market is expected to grow rapidly at an annual rate of 27.95%, reaching USD 16.7 billion by 2031.   Attachment 1: Introduction to HyperVisual AI Technology The GPNPU architecture currently under development is designed so that the GPU and NPU share memory, with each handling parallel and matrix operations, respectively. This approach resolves bottlenecks, memory access delays, and complex pipeline issues common in traditional heterogeneous computing architectures (CPU, DSP, NPU), significantly improving power efficiency.   Moreover, GPNPU is designed to support not only Vision Transformers but also multimodal and cross-modal AI architectures on edge devices, showing strong potential for future scalability.   Based on this technological foundation, the company plans to complete GPNPU IP design by 2025 and begin commercializing its semiconductor IP in 2026. The ultimate goal is to secure technological leadership in the on-device AI market with a total vision intelligence solution that integrates their proprietary processor and models.      최지원 기자intelligence investment device vision ground ventures device environments

2025.06.01. 21:56