Mateo AI Studio, a Korean startup developing original IP and production technology powered by AI, has raised approximately 1.4M USD(2 billion KRW) in a Pre-Series A round from the Baby Shark Next Global Content Fund, managed by SmartStudy Ventures.

The round is notable for its timing: Mateo AI Studio secured Pre-Series A financing just one year after incorporation, a pace that underscores growing investor appetite for AI-driven approaches to content creation. The raise comes as the broader content production market undergoes rapid structural change, driven by the proliferation of generative AI and surging demand from global OTT and digital platforms.

SmartStudy Ventures is the corporate venture arm of The Pinkfong Company — the studio behind global children’s hits Pinkfong and Baby Shark — and brings deep investment expertise in the cultural content sector. The firm’s decision to back MateoAI Studio reflects its conviction in the growth potential of AI-native IP studios.

Mateo AI Studio operates as a fully AI-native studio, conceiving and developing original IP across film, drama, and animation, then bringing those projects to life through its proprietary AI-based production system. Rather than using generative AI purely as a cost-reduction tool, the company has rebuilt the entire creative pipeline — from development and direction to production — around AI as core infrastructure. This architecture enables a small team to consistently produce feature-length and serialized content at scale.

The studio has developed a proprietary long-form production workflow that integrates multiple generative AI models, with a particular focus on solving the hard problems unique to long-form storytelling: maintaining character identity across scenes, preserving narrative continuity, and exercising fine-grained directorial control at the sequence level. Production data and operational know-how accumulated through live projects continue to strengthen its data-driven pipeline and proprietary production operating system.

Mateo AI Studio is currently developing several projects targeting distribution on major platforms in North America and Asia. Its flagship feature project RAPHAEL — co-produced with MBC C&I — anchors a growing slate of original IP spanning film, drama, and animation. Alongside in-house IP production, the company is building out multiple revenue streams, including co-productions, global content production services, AI production solution development, and international distribution.

The fresh capital will be directed toward expanding original IP development, advancing the company’s AI production technology and solutions, and recruiting key creative and technical talent.

“The real competitive edge of Mateo AI Studio lies not in AI technology itself, but in our ability to use that technology to create stories, worlds, and characters that move people,” Juwon Jung, CEO of MateoAI Studio, said in a statement. “With this investment, we will channel all of our energy into bringing new AI-powered IP to the global market.”

With the funding secured, Mateo AI Studio plans to accelerate the release of key original content while expanding global co-production opportunities and strategic partnerships.