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Artificial intelligence solution startup MakinaRocks said Wednesday the company has completed the Series A round, winning a total of 12 billion won ($10 million) worth of funding from large South Korean businesses including LG and Hyundai Motor.

MakinaRocks develops and provides solutions that can detect and prevent errors and defects during manufacturing processes based on deep learning and enhanced learning algorithms for companies that operate complex and large-scale manufacturing facilities for automobiles, semiconductors, batteries and pharmaceutical products.

The company was established under SK Telecom’s ICT R&D Center in 2017, and was spun off in 2018. It now is based in Seoul and Silicon Valley.

A series A investment is the name typically given to a company‘s first significant round of venture capital financing.

Strategic investors that participated in the series A were LG Group’s investment arm LG Technology Ventures, Hyundai Motor Company, Applied Ventures, while financial investors included Korea Development Bank, Daesung Private Equity, Shinhan Investment Corp. and HB Investment. 

In 2018, the company won financial support from SK Telecom, Hyundai Motor and Naver D2 Startup Factory as seed-stage investors.

The company is currently working with its investors to apply its On-premise solution to their production lines with the goal of helping the companies improve production efficiency and quality. The company is also developing a solution based on cloud computing as part of its business portfolio expansion.

“The latest investment will serve as a springboard for the company in its global expansion by discovering new business models and securing crucial talent,” a company official said.

By Song Su-hyun (song@heraldcorp.com)

- Originally published at www.koreaherald.com/ July 22, 2020.