00:00Korea's startup funding picture just got a fresh data point.
00:03Nvidia quietly announced direct investments in four Korean startups,
00:07and the message is hard to miss for founders here.
00:09It's Tuesday, November 10th.
00:11Let's look at what this means for startups and entrepreneurs in Korea.
00:14Nvidia disclosed the investments at its AI Day Seoul event in Gangnam
00:18through a side forum called the Nvidia AI Startup Partnership Forum.
00:22Point 2. Technology
00:23Founded by Keist's Bai Hyun Min and his graduates is one of them.
00:27The company builds wireless interconnect components that carry data
00:31between AI chips and racks inside data centers.
00:34Nvidia's venture arm, InVentures, had already backed Point 2 earlier this year.
00:39This time, Nvidia itself is investing directly.
00:42That is a rare step for a Korean hardware startup.
00:44Here's what the numbers show.
00:46Three more companies are on the list.
00:48Upstage and Motif Technologies build large language models.
00:52Real World develops robot foundation models.
00:54All three deals are direct Nvidia investments, not N-Ventures.
00:58None has closed yet, but Nvidia chose to reveal them on stage in Seoul.
01:02So what does this mean for founders weighing their next move?
01:05Nvidia's inception program has supported more than a thousand Korean member companies.
01:09Members get preferential GPU pricing and access to investors.
01:13For a seed or series of founder, that means compute and capital in the same ecosystem.
01:18Earlier, we said Nvidia is moving from ecosystem partner to direct investor in Korea.
01:23Here's what that actually means for you.
01:25If you build in AI infrastructure, robotics, or foundation models,
01:29the bar for global hardware access just dropped,
01:32and the window to plug into Nvidia's network is open now.
01:35That's today's AI Prism.
01:37Founders, this episode was produced with AI assistants
01:40based on Seoul Economic Daily reporting.
01:43AI Prism is a Juan IFRA award-winning series.
01:46We'll be back tomorrow.
01:47Having a strong call for us today, lets see you get to see you tomorrow.
01:47Bye-bye.
01:47I'll see you tomorrow.
01:47Bye-bye.
01:48Bye-bye.
