KAIST

< Professor Hyeonmin Bae (Director of  Startup KAIST), Department of Electrical Engineering, KAIST > 

The 'K-Global Deep Tech Startup Strategy' promoted by our university is leading to concrete results. KAIST announced on the 14th that BarrelEye Co., Ltd. (CEO Hyeonmin Bae), an medical AI solution company fostered by the Startup Center, has secured a strategic Series A investment of approximately 14 billion won (10 million USD) from a global healthcare leader, establishing itself as a representative success case of the KAIST Deep Tech startup ecosystem.

■ KAIST Strengthens Full-Cycle Support System for Research-Based Deep Tech Startups Startup KAIST Center aims to create an innovation ecosystem through science and technology-based startups, operating a full-cycle support system including technology commercialization, startup incubation, investment linkage, and global expansion. Focused on the 'K-Global Deep Tech Startup Strategy', it promotes market entry of research outcomes and global investment attraction, growing into a leading Deep Tech startup hub in South Korea. KAIST is particularly gaining attention as a model institution for national innovation-growth startups, producing dozens of Deep Tech startups annually, centered on advanced industrial fields such as AI, Bio-Health, Semiconductors, and Future Mobility.

■ Results: Diffusion of AI-Centric Deep Tech Startup Ecosystem... Accumulated Investment of 3.5 Trillion Won Secured KAIST is positioning itself as a hub for Deep Tech startups centered on the AI sector. Representative AI startups, based on KAIST research achievements, are rapidly growing in the global market. Rebellions, an AI semiconductor startup founded in 2020, has grown into a unicorn company with a valuation exceeding 1 trillion won by designing and developing AI chips optimized for artificial intelligence deep learning. Panacea, founded in 2022, is an AI infrastructure link solution company in the semiconductor and display sectors, providing an AI-based link solution specialized in manufacturing process optimization, growing to a valuation of 350 billion won. BarrelEye (BarrelEye) succeeded in entering the global healthcare market and attracting a strategic investment of 14 billion won with its ultrasound image-based AI diagnostic technology, proving KAIST's capabilities in AI-medical convergence startups. In this way, KAIST is building a Deep Tech startup ecosystem where researcher-led startups lead to tangible industrial results, based on its AI-leading technology. The cumulative domestic and foreign investment secured by KAIST startups that have succeeded in attracting investment over the past 5 years amounts to 3.5 trillion won. KAIST President Kwang Hyung Lee stated, “KAIST's K-Global Deep Tech Startup Strategy is establishing itself as a Korean-style Deep Tech startup model where research outcomes lead to industrial innovation,” adding, “BarrelEye's global investment attraction is a symbolic case proving the technological competitiveness of KAIST researcher-led startups in the world market. KAIST will continue to lead national innovation growth through science and technology-based startups.”

■ Medical AI Startup 'BarrelEye' Establishes Strategic Cooperation with Global Healthcare Company This investment is evaluated as a result of BarrelEye's ultrasound image-based AI diagnostic technology being recognized as commercially viable in global clinical and industrial settings. The investing company is a global leader in the field of medical imaging and diagnostics, and the two companies plan to establish a strategic partnership for joint technology development and overseas market expansion. BarrelEye is developing an AI diagnostic solution that detects minute tissue changes inside the human body with high resolution, based on deep learning and RF (radio frequency) signal-based quantitative ultrasound analysis technology. It is currently expanding its application area to various clinical fields such as breast cancer, thyroid disease, liver disease, and cardiovascular disease. Professor Bae Hyun-min, Head of KAIST Startup Center and CEO of BarrelEye, said, "This investment is meaningful as the technology developed through R&D at KAIST has been recognized for its competitiveness in the global market," and "The Startup Center will further strengthen the full-cycle support system for Deep Tech startups so that researcher-centered technology startups can actually connect to the industry." For reference, BarrelEye Co., Ltd. was established in 2021 and is developing an innovative diagnostic solution that enables the extraction of quantitative tissue information, previously only possible with MRI, from ultrasound images through AI-based quantitative ultrasound analysis technology. It is currently leading the commercialization of the medical imaging AI field in cooperation with global medical device companies and hospitals.