Korean AI semiconductor company Furiosa AI has secured approximately $123 million (KRW 170 billion) in a Series C bridge funding round, pushing its corporate valuation past $770 million (KRW 1 trillion) and entering the ranks of unicorn startups.

The round was based on a pre-money valuation of $630 million (KRW 830 billion) and attracted participation from over 40 institutional investors. Key contributors include Korean state-backed institutions such as the Korea Development Bank (KDB) with $21.7 million (KRW 30 billion), Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) with $7.2 million (KRW 10 billion), and its affiliates IBK Securities ($4.3 million / KRW 6 billion) and IBK Venture Investment ($3.6 million / KRW 5 billion). Other significant participants include Eugene-Growth Finance Fund ($8.4 million / KRW 11.6 billion), Keistone Partners ($14.5 million / KRW 20 billion), PI Partners ($9.6 million / KRW 13.2 billion), Daesung Private Equity ($3.6 million / KRW 5 billion), and Kakao Investment ($2.2 million / KRW 3 billion).

This single bridge round matched the total amount of capital Furiosa AI had raised over its entire 7-year funding history from seed through Series C, demonstrating sustained market confidence and trust in the company’s trajectory. Existing investors’ continued participation signaled unwavering belief in Furiosa AI, while new investors like Keistone Partners, Nextrans, and Daesung Private Equity joined the round based on strong expectations for the company’s technology and growth potential.

Notably, private equity firms—which typically avoid high-risk early-stage startups—collectively invested around $29 million (KRW 40 billion) in this round. This underscores Furiosa AI’s emergence as a growth-stage company, recognized for both its technical capabilities and market viability.

The company is garnering increasing global attention as enterprises seek alternatives to NVIDIA GPUs amid the rapid expansion of the generative AI market. In July 2025, Furiosa AI’s second-generation AI chip RNGD (“Renegade”) was successfully adopted by LG AI Research to power its large language model, EXAONE. During the selection process, Renegade not only met LG’s demanding performance requirements but also delivered 2.25x better performance-per-watt compared to traditional GPUs—positioning this deployment as a strong reference case for Fortune Global 500 enterprises.

Furiosa AI plans to use the newly raised funds to scale production of the Renegade chip and initiate development of its third-generation product. With Renegade entering the enterprise segment in earnest, securing sufficient volume is critical. Simultaneously, the company is ambitiously planning its next-generation AI chip.

CEO Junho Baek stated, “Securing this investment at a pivotal moment of scaling Renegade production reflects the capital market’s deep trust in our technology and vision. We are committed to expanding revenue globally across enterprise customers.” He added, “The Korean government’s support for scale-up capital in the AI startup ecosystem is highly encouraging,” and emphasized, “For Korea to join the ranks of AI powerhouses like the U.S. and China, achieving global competitiveness in AI semiconductors is not just a goal—it is a national imperative.”