SBVA Successfully Concludes 'AI Seminar' for Portfolio Companies and Major Fund Investors

SBVA announced on the 22nd that it successfully held an ‘AI Seminar’ on the 17th at its Seoul Gangnam headquarters in collaboration with an AI portfolio company, targeting major limited partners (LPs).

SBVA holds seminars each quarter for major LPs to share trends in industries where SBVA focuses its investments, such as AI, deep tech, and robotics, and to facilitate networking with portfolio companies. This year, in addition to the AI seminar, it plans to conduct seminars on digital healthcare and VC (venture capital) trends, including IPOs.

This SBVA AI seminar was designed to provide insights into the rapidly evolving AI technology and ecosystem, enhance LPs’ understanding of the overall AI industry, and create opportunities for connections between LPs and AI startups to lay the groundwork for future business collaborations.

Provided by SBVA

The event was attended by five SBVA portfolio companies: ▲lightweight large language model (sLLM) AI startup ‘Upstage’ ▲AI model optimization technology specialist ‘Nota’ ▲AI semiconductor startup optimized for large language model (LLM) inference ‘Hyperexcel’ ▲semiconductor design (fabless) startup ‘Soteria’ ▲custom semiconductor design specialist ‘Semifive’, along with over 50 industry stakeholders including major domestic LPs such as IBK Industrial Bank, SK Networks, LG, KT, Krafton, and Hanwha Life.

The first part featured a presentation by Lee Jong-wook, Tech Team Leader at Samsung Securities Research Center, titled ‘Understanding the AI Industry in 2025, the Necessity of AI Semiconductors, and the Direction of AI Development.’ It provided in-depth insights into the current state of AI across all industries and software since the emergence of generative AI. The seminar consisted of seven sessions covering ▲the birth of generative AI ▲technological changes in semiconductors ▲the development direction of AI semiconductors and ecosystem formation ▲the advent of the AI agent era, among others.

In the second part, five portfolio companies introduced their innovative AI technologies, future plans, and strategic directions. During the Q&A session, there was an in-depth discussion on the impact of U.S. chip export restrictions on the semiconductor ecosystem and the development direction of AI semiconductors.

SBVA partner Jin Yoon-jung stated, “We will continue to pursue various activities to foster industry growth and actively discover and nurture innovative AI companies that are competitive in the global market.”

Meanwhile, last year SBVA raised a fund totaling 410 billion KRW and invested 120 billion KRW in 18 companies aiming for global market entry. It also conducted recoveries amounting to approximately 200 billion KRW. Additionally, SBVA was recognized for its contribution to revitalizing investment in small and venture businesses by co-hosting an event with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups featuring OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and received the Minister’s Award in the large VC category from the Ministry of SMEs and Startups this year.

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