Fabless chip unicorn FuriosaAI raises $120 mn in new funding

South Korea’s AI chip designer FuriosaAI Inc. said on Thursday it has raised 170 billion won ($120 million) in bridge funding from about 40 institutional investors, a deal that makes it the first to attain unicorn status under the current administration.

The fundraising follows a February report by Forbes that Meta Platforms Inc., the parent of Facebook and Instagram, was in talks to acquire FuriosaAI. Neither party confirmed the report, nor any progress in the talks.

The equity capital it raised matched the total amount of funding it had attracted since its inception in 2017, reaching about $120 million.

The latest fundraising was based on its pre-money valuation of 830 billion won, representing its value before the latest round.

The investors include two state-run lenders -- Korea Development Bank (KDB) and Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) – along with IBK Securities Co., as well as private equity and venture capital firms such as IBK Venture Investment, Kakao Investment and Keistone Partners.

“Multiple private equity firms, which barely invest in early stage startups, participated in this funding round, investing a combined 40 billion won,” said a FuriosaAI official.

The proceeds will be used to mass-produce RNGD, its second-generation AI accelerator, pronounced "renegade," and advance development of third-generation products.
 

FuriosaAI is a rare Korean chip designer with a specialty in accelerators that enhance  AI application performance and one of the few Korean semiconductor unicorns.

South Korea’s largest internet portal operator, Naver Corp., and DSC Investment Inc. are among its early stage investors.

Earlier this month, FuriosaAI supplied RNGD to LG AI Research, making inroads into the large-size AI server market. RNGD, released in August 2024, is optimized for large language models and hyperscale data centers.

But the fabless chipmaker has yet to secure a blockbuster order that would significantly boost its revenue.

It still faces industry skepticism, with some observers saying it would take considerable time to catch up to Nvidia Corp., the dominant leader in the AI processor market.

Write to Hae-Ryong Kang at hr.kang@hankyung.com
 

Yeonhee Kim edited this article.