Korea's biggest manufacturers back Config, the TSMC of robot data | TechCrunch

"Asia's push into physical AI is being fueled by the same manufacturing prowess that made the region a global industrial powerhouse. Across South Korea, Japan, China and Taiwan, manufacturing remains a central pillar of economic growth. Unlike economies more heavily weighted toward services or software, these countries have long relied on large-scale production, export-driven industries, and highly optimized supply chains. That structural foundation is now shaping how artificial intelligence is adopted and where investment flows."

"Samsung Venture Investment led its oversubscribed $27 million seed round at a valuation of more than $200 million, bringing Config's total raised to $34 million. Hyundai Motor's venture arm ZER01NE Ventures, LG Tech Ventures, and SKT America, a South Korean telco giant's VC unit, also joined as strategic investors, alongside angel investor Pieter Abbeel (co-founder of Covariant AI and a UC Berkeley professor) and financial backers including Mirae Asset Ventures, Korea Development Bank, GS Futures, Kakao Ventures, and Z Ventures."

"Config was founded in January 2025 by CEO Minjoon Seo, a former researcher at Meta and chief scientist at Twelve Labs, along with four co-founders with backgrounds at Waymo, Google and Naver. Instead of building robots themselves, the team is focused on a simpler goal, providing data robots need to learn and operate. They believe that better data will be key to making robots more useful."

"Training large language models is expensive, because of the computing power required to process them, but the raw material, vast amounts of text from across the internet, is easy to obtain. Teaching robots to move is a completely different challenge, Seo said in an exclusive interview with TechCrunch."

Manufacturing strength across South Korea, Japan, China, and Taiwan supports export-driven industries and optimized supply chains, shaping how artificial intelligence is adopted and where capital flows. Config, a Seoul- and San Jose-based startup building a data layer for robotic foundation models, raised $27 million in an oversubscribed seed round led by Samsung Venture Investment at a valuation above $200 million. Hyundai Motor’s ZER01NE Ventures, LG Tech Ventures, and SKT America joined as strategic investors, along with angel investor Pieter Abbeel and multiple financial backers. Founded in January 2025 by Minjoon Seo and co-founders from Waymo, Google, and Naver, the company focuses on providing data robots need to learn and operate, emphasizing that better data is key to improving robot usefulness.

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