As interest in smart manufacturing incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) grows, startups that provide smart factory-related solutions are also emerging. Along with the growth of the global market, startups that have grown into unicorns (unlisted companies with a corporate value of more than $1 billion) have appeared in foreign countries.

According to data compiled by the Small and Medium Business Technology Information Promotion Agency on the 24th, the number of companies supplying smart factory solutions increased by 36% in two years from 1,591 at the end of 2021 to 1,948 at the end of 2022 and to 2,167 as of the end of last year.

In particular, representative startups specializing in smart manufacturing technology are growing their business by attracting external investment one after another. Amber Road, a developer of AI-based smart manufacturing solutions, attracted seed investment last month from investors including Spark Lab, Daekyung University Joint Technology Holdings, D.Camp, and Y&Archer.

Amber Road developed 'Minor Report', an AI-based data analysis solution that can be applied to manufacturing sites and a real-time AI model operation management solution. As the domestic smart factory market grows, this solution was developed for easy use by practitioners based on field-oriented practical knowledge.

Industrial AI solution startup INEEJI attracted 8.1 billion won in investment earlier this month. INEEJI provides customized solutions, especially to heavy industrial plants such as steel, chemicals, and cement. For example, in the past, employees had to manually check the temperature of molten iron inside the furnace, but with the INEEJI solution, AI not only measures but also predicts future temperatures.

InterX, a manufacturing AI and autonomous factory operation solution company, signed an investment agreement with Daegu City at the end of last year to build an autonomous production demo factory and joint laboratory worth 44.7 billion won. For this purpose, the headquarters will also be relocated from Ulsan to Daegu. Thanks to this technological prowess, InterX is receiving great attention, including attracting Series A bridge investment from LS Electric.

Movik Lab, a startup with technology to find machine failures using AI and ultrasonic waves, also attracted 1.5 billion won in pre-A investment from Moby Dick Ventures, Evergreen Investment Partners, and Credit Guarantee Fund last month.

Founded in 2017, Movik Lab is a company that develops equipment failure prediction solutions by collecting and analyzing ultrasonic signals (high frequency bands) generated in the production process. In the past, in factories, craftsmen with decades of experience would rely on hearing and intuition to find faulty parts, but this was automated by the Movik Lab solution.

An official from the venture capital industry said, “With the rapid development of AI, interest is again focused on smart manufacturing technology. We expect demand from manufacturers to improve production efficiency using such technology to increase, and we are planning to invest in smart manufacturing technology startups.” “He said.

[Reporter Kim Dong-eun]