[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Naver’s startup incubation organization D2SF (D2 Startup Factory) has made a follow-up investment in the autonomous driving simulation technology startup ‘Morai’.
Naver announced on the 8th that it made its second follow-up investment in Morai, following a seed investment in 2018 and a Series A investment in 2020. The total amount raised by Morai in this Series B round is approximately 25 billion KRW. The round was led by Korea Investment Partners, with joint investments from Hyundai Motor Zero1, Kakao Ventures, Atinum Investment, KB Investment, and the Korea Development Bank.
Morai is a simulation startup that comprehensively verifies the safety and reliability of autonomous driving systems. It has developed the only ‘full-stack’ autonomous driving simulation platform in Korea and has already grown into a leading company domestically.
Morai’s platform builds a highly complete ‘digital twin’ that replicates the real world identically in the digital realm based on high-definition (HD) map data. It provides a large-scale simulation environment that implements various variables such as weather and time as scenarios.
Based on this technological capability, Morai has secured over 100 clients including major domestic companies such as Naver Labs, Hyundai Mobis, Hyundai AutoEver, and FortyTwoDot, as well as universities and research institutes. It also maintains close partnerships with global companies like NVIDIA and Ansys dSPACE.
In particular, Naver explained that there is significant synergy with its advanced technology R&D subsidiary, Naver Labs. Naver D2SF is Morai’s first institutional investor, and close collaboration between Naver Labs and Morai has continued since the investment. A representative example is ‘Arcverse,’ Naver Labs’ digital twin-based metaverse platform, where Naver Labs tests and enhances its self-developed high-precision maps and autonomous driving technologies using Morai’s simulator, generating synergistic outcomes.
Baek Jong-yoon, lead researcher at Naver Labs who has collaborated with Morai, said, “From a partner’s perspective, Morai’s simulation platform is not only highly complete but also highly user-friendly. It allows easy testing of various scenarios by reflecting data formats and vehicle characteristics, which accelerated our technology development speed.”
Yang Sang-hwan, leader of Naver D2SF, stated, “Morai has grown into Korea’s top autonomous driving simulation company based on outstanding digital twin technology, and successful expansion into global markets such as the U.S., Germany, and Singapore is expected. We especially look forward to continuous cooperation and synergy creation with Naver Labs through this investment.”
Jung Ji-won, CEO of Morai, said, “Through cooperation and feedback with Naver Labs, we were able to quickly understand customer needs, enhance our products, and establish ourselves in the market. We expect to build an even stronger partnership with Naver Labs through this investment and will actively recruit talented individuals to enhance our global competitiveness.”
Meanwhile, Naver D2SF is strengthening its role as a coordinator connecting Naver’s technical organization with startups to enable early-stage technology startups to grow substantially, beyond being a mere investor. Among the startups invested in by D2SF, 71% have successfully found points of contact with Naver and are discussing concrete cooperation.
Espresso Media, a video technology startup that received seed investment from D2SF in 2019 and follow-up investment last year, is currently collaborating with Naver’s video platform. Seven Point One, a conversation-based dementia screening solution startup that secured D2SF investment in 2020, is providing AI-based early dementia diagnosis services in cooperation with Clova AiCall.
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