NVIDIA announced an investment in Korean startup Point2 and plans to back three other companies working on artificial intelligence infrastructure, models and robotics, the chip company said on Nov. 9.
The commitments extend NVIDIA’s work with Korea’s startup community, which includes more than 1,000 Korea-based members of its Inception support program. The company published the announcement in its Nov. 9 blog post, “NVIDIA Announces New Planned Investments in Korean Startups at the MSIT-NVIDIA AI Startup Partnership Forum.”
NVIDIA identified Motif Technologies, RLWRLD and Upstage as the companies slated for additional investments. It gave no investment amounts or timetable for those planned commitments, and described the Point2 investment separately from the other three.
The announcement followed a forum hosted by NVIDIA and Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT at COEX. Ryu Je-myung, vice minister of science and ICT, joined NVIDIA executives to meet more than 20 Korean startups, the company said.
The participating startups worked on foundation models, AI systems that can underpin different applications, as well as robotics, computing infrastructure and semiconductors. NVIDIA described the investment recipients as spanning infrastructure, models and applications for robots.
Point2 Technology develops radio frequency-based connections that move data between chips and between racks of computing equipment. NVIDIA said the company’s technology offers an alternative to conventional copper and optical connections used to link equipment in AI computing clusters.
The company said Point2’s connections are designed to support larger AI systems while providing the distance, performance and efficiency those systems need. The announcement did not provide figures comparing the technology’s performance with copper or optical connections.
Motif Technologies, an AI laboratory based in Seoul, develops models for AI agents designed to carry out complex tasks. Its work includes Motif-3, a large language model released with open weights, making its learned numerical parameters available.
RLWRLD operates from San Francisco, Seoul and Tokyo and develops models for humanoid and industrial robots. NVIDIA said those models support tasks requiring five-finger dexterity, including inserting components precisely, threading nuts onto bolts and assembling sets of parts from moving conveyors.
Upstage develops Solar language models and tools that help businesses process documents. NVIDIA said its technology helps companies extract information from complex documents, simplify workflows and build AI applications for their daily operations.
NVIDIA’s existing Inception program gives startups access to preferred pricing, technical expertise and opportunities for introductions to investors. The company placed the planned investments alongside that broader work with Korea’s startups and venture investment community.
