South Korean AI Startup Upstage Becomes Country's First AI Unicorn with $130M Series C

Gate News message, April 15 — South Korean generative AI startup Upstage closed the first tranche of its Series C funding round, raising 180 billion won (approximately $130 million) and achieving a valuation exceeding 1 trillion won ($720 million), making it the country's first AI unicorn. Silicon Valley-based Sage Partners led the round.

New investors include Exim Asia, Hyundai Motor, Kia, and Woori Venture Partners, alongside existing backers Premier Partners, Shinhan Venture Investment, Mirae Asset Venture Investment, KB Securities, and Intervest. The round brings Upstage's total funding to approximately 400 billion won since its 2020 founding, following seed, Series A (31.6 billion won in 2021), Series B (100 billion won in 2024), and Series B bridge (62 billion won in 2025) rounds.

Upstage's proprietary large language model Solar LLM and document processing AI Document Parse are deployed by Fortune 500 companies including Samsung, major South Korean insurers, and multiple public institutions. The company reported annual revenue growth exceeding 130% and was selected by South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT to lead the national independent foundation model project.

The new capital will fund GPU infrastructure expansion, talent acquisition, overseas market development in the U.S. and Japan, and preparation for an initial public offering. CEO Kim Sung-hoon stated the company aims to achieve 1 trillion won in revenue, adding that the funding reflects market confidence in Upstage's position as South Korea's leading AI developer.