[Korean Startup Weekly News #137] Defense

[Korean Startup Weekly News #137] Defense-Tech Cluster Goes Public

Korea's defense-tech cluster had a defining week — ADSYSTEM raised a Series A for its low-observable drones, Flex System filed for a KOSDAQ IPO, and StepLab partnered with US-based SRI on space-domain-awareness technology. Wrtn Technologies named its IPO underwriters, and Korean capital showed up in an overseas megadeal for the fifth straight week, this time via Mirae Asset Capital and Korea Investment Partners.

Defense UAV specialist ADSYSTEM raises USD 9.9M Series A

led by LB Investment, to build mass-production capacity for its low-observable, jam-resistant drones. It capped a week in which two more Korean defense/space companies moved in parallel: Flex System, which builds aerospace/defense test solutions, filed for a KOSDAQ IPO preliminary review after more than doubling its 2025 revenue; and StepLab partnered with US-based SRI to co-develop space-domain-awareness optics and a small satellite platform, pushing into the global defense-space market.

Notable investments and deals shaping Korea’s startup ecosystem.

for its needle-free continuous glucose monitor, backed by Naver- and Daewoong-affiliated investors, and will begin clinical trials at the Joslin Diabetes Center.

led by Signite with Amorepacific's participation.

cutting settlement time from 90 to under 14 days as it expands into Southeast Asia.

The rest of this week’s Korea startup news, in brief.

Korean capital keeps showing up in overseas megadeals — five weeks running.

Precision Neuroscience raised a $250M Series D for its minimally invasive brain chip, co-led by Pershing Square and the Ackman-Oxman Institute, with Mirae Asset Capital and Korea Investment Partners among the participants. That makes five straight weeks a Korean conglomerate or investor has shown up in an overseas megaround: Samsung Electronics led Mistral's €3B Series D; Samsung also backed AI-security firm Alice's $140M round; Naver backed Positron AI's $875M raise; Samsung Electronics joined Dutch inference-chip startup EUCLYD's €200M+ Series A; and Mirae Asset led China's D-Robotics to a $400M Series C. A different company and a different sector each week — sovereign AI, AI security, inference chips, robotics chips, and now brain-computer interfaces — points to broad-based Korean capital participation in overseas megadeals rather than a bet on any one sector.

Two Korean AI companies advance toward IPO and enterprise deployment.

Wrtn Technologies named Mirae Asset Securities and NH Investment & Securities as IPO lead underwriters, a month after its KRW 100B funding round — the listing process is now underway. Enhans, fresh off a KRW 51.2B Series C two weeks ago, partnered with GS Caltex to turn veteran manufacturing workers' tacit knowledge into an AI-powered guide chatbot covering 830,000 pieces of equipment.

Two Korean AI startups placed in NVIDIA's Inception Grand Challenge APAC Top 10.

Pyler (video-understanding AI) and AIM Intelligence (AI security, also winning a special Nebius award) were both selected from roughly 10,000 applicants across the region.

Biohealth: funding and overseas validation keep arriving together.

Ten Seoul-based bio/healthcare/medical-device companies closed USD 9.5M in export deals through a Seoul Business Agency trade mission to New York and Boston. Senior-care operator Caring opened three new metro-area locations, expanding to 330 rooms across five sites.

Fintech and digital-asset infrastructure keep interconnecting.

KakaoPay and Kakao Bank signed an MOU with Fireblocks to build out stablecoin infrastructure in Korea. Travel Wallet passed KRW 10T in cumulative transactions and 10M cards issued. Corporate travel-expense platform Bizplay partnered with Woori Card to expand services to 32,000+ client companies.

Selected headlines from the global startup ecosystem.