Hyosung Ventures Makes First Investment in AI and Battery Small Giants

20 Billion Won Each to Persona AI Co., Ltd. and Battery Co., Ltd.

Hyosung's corporate venture capital (CVC), Hyosung Ventures Co., Ltd., is investing in promising artificial intelligence (AI) companies to foster new growth engines aimed at capturing future markets.

Hyosung Ventures announced on the 22nd that it has invested 2 billion KRW each in two domestic strong small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the AI and battery sectors, Persona AI Co., Ltd. and Battery Why Co., Ltd.

This investment aligns with Hyosung's future new business development strategy, which emphasizes expanding beyond manufacturing?where it holds technological competitiveness in global markets such as textiles, chemicals, heavy industries, and new materials?into advanced future markets like AI.

Persona AI, invested in by Hyosung Ventures, is the first Korean company to develop a cloud-based conversational AI solution and possesses AI contact center technologies such as callbots and chatbots that handle calls and chats autonomously. Synergistic effects through collaboration with Hyosung ITX are also anticipated.

Battery Why holds Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS) technology that diagnoses the entire lifecycle of batteries. It acquires data through Battery Management Systems (BMS) for electric vehicles and Energy Storage Systems (ESS), and uses cloud technology to provide real-time cell-level status information of batteries. Collaboration with Hyosung Heavy Industries’ ESS business division is expected.

Hyosung Ventures selected companies applying AI technology in convergence with other fields as investment targets, in line with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s fund formation purpose to create future growth engines in advanced industries and to upgrade core industries.

Previously, at the end of last year, Hyosung Ventures was selected as a fund management company by the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology (KIAT) under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. In March this year, Hyosung Ventures invested 1 billion KRW, Hyosung Group 30 billion KRW, and KIAT 20 billion KRW to form the ‘Hyosung CVC Scale-up New Technology Business Investment Association No. 1’ fund totaling 51 billion KRW, with this investment being the first operational project.

Chairman Cho Hyun-jun stated, "Hyosung is actively striving to innovate its manufacturing technology through digital transformation in line with the Fourth Industrial Revolution era. By investing in various companies securing future technologies, we will coexist with domestic strong SMEs and grow into an advanced company beyond a manufacturing enterprise."

Hyosung Ventures plans to continue investing in promising SMEs and startups with innovative technologies in the future.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.