[S Report ⑤] "Redefining Industries with AI, Overcoming the Funding Crunch" — Three Startup Founders Take on the Challenge

As AI technology has emerged as a core element of national competitiveness, a new wave of "AI founders" is rapidly rising in Korea's startup ecosystem—shaking up the existing order. Despite the gap with global Big Tech, the burden of R&D, and a contracted investment market, these founders are finding breakthroughs through technology.

Money S met three founders from the 5th cohort of the "KB Unicorn Club," a program operated by the Gyeonggi Center for Creative Economy and Innovation in partnership with KB Kookmin Bank. The featured founders are: Taekwon Jee, CEO of SemiAI, who pursues human–AI collaboration; Sungsan Kim, CEO of Pixel, who is building a global micro-community platform; and Jinwoo Kim, CEO of HexAI Labs, who is shifting the paradigm with "semiconductor DNA analysis" technology. Although they operate in different industries, they share a common goal: "redefining existing systems through AI."

Pushing Past Limits to New Markets: The Challenge of AI Rookies

The three founders had different motivations, but each began with the "structural limits of their industry." "The core of the semiconductor industry lies not only in design excellence, but also in the high-yield mass production capability that perfectly realizes that design," said SemiAI CEO Taekwon Jee. "But this remains a massive challenge."

Jee launched his startup to solve this problem with a Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) framework that combines human expertise and AI. He concluded that the answer would lie in "virtual fab" technology that uses AI to generate and synthesize the vast data spanning semiconductor design, processes, and packaging.

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Three Companies Past the Hurdles, Now Growing in Earnest with Tech and Investment

The biggest hurdle in the early days was "market trust." SemiAI CEO Taekwon Jee explained, "Forming an early team that shared the same vision was a serious struggle. After conflicts with my initial business partner, I ended up having to design the early ideas and product concepts entirely on my own." He recalled it as "a time sustained purely by technical conviction."

Pixel struggled to secure stable early-stage capital while running a global operation, and HexAI Labs likewise needed time before the market trusted its novel concept. But once the technology was proven, investment and partnerships followed quickly, putting all three companies on a clear growth trajectory.

All three founders pointed to the "KB Unicorn Club"—an early-stage startup program run by the Gyeonggi Center for Creative Economy and Innovation in partnership with KB Kookmin Bank—as a turning point in their scale-up. The KB Unicorn Club aims to energize Korea's startup ecosystem and drive co-growth with new ventures; their 5th cohort included 10 standout startups in fields such as ICT service platforms, AI big data, and fintech.

"Through KB Unicorn Club, we got opportunities to meet leading VCs directly through IR events and 1-to-N deep-dive meetings—not just networking, but real investment-attraction settings," Jee said. "In that process, we were able to sharpen our business model from the perspective of investors and the market, beyond a purely technology-centric view."

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With support from KB Unicorn Club, the three companies are each proving their technical innovation. SemiAI recently released a Lite version of its core technology; HexAI Labs has filed nine patents related to its core technology, starting in the U.S. and extending domestically and overseas; and Pixel currently runs 20 apps on new themes including golf, running, and Bitcoin, with more themes to be added by year-end.

Their 2026 goals are also clear. SemiAI plans to successfully execute customer PoCs (proof of concept) and convert them into revenue; HexAI Labs aims to gain technical recognition that shifts the paradigm of the semiconductor industry; and Pixel is preparing to expand into a Meta-class community platform.

The three founders all agreed that AI is a technology rewriting the standards for Korea's manufacturing, semiconductor, and community industries. Although they started in different fields, their direction was the same: opening a new future for Korean technology through AI.

"I will lead technological innovation so that Korea can claim leadership in AI and semiconductor manufacturing," Jee said.