A spin-off startup from the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI, President Myeong-ho Myeong) has attracted 1 billion won in seed investment, laying the foundation for growth.

Meraker, a start-up company established based on technology from the Korea Electric Power Research Institute, announced on the 22nd that it signed a seed investment agreement worth 1 billion won with metaverse representative company Wizwix Studio (CEO Park Gwan-woo, CEO Park In-gyu).

Meraker is a company jointly founded by Dr. Kim Seon-kwon and CEO Kim Young-ho, former CTO and managing director of KTB Investment & Securities, based on artificial intelligence (AI) image analysis technology accumulated for over 10 years at Samsung Electronics' Advanced Institute of Technology and KERI's Electro-Medical Device Research Center.

Meraker's main field is AI sensor technology that combines artificial intelligence (AI)-based algorithms (S/W) and camera sensor (H/W) technology. Meraker received a lot of attention for being the world's first company to have AI operate autonomously on a camera sensor without a server connection, and was able to receive a large seed investment of 1 billion won at the same time as its incorporation. It also plans to move into the 'AI Yangjae Hub' established by the Seoul Metropolitan Government next year.

Currently, Meraker is developing a portable fundus camera that can diagnose and screen for the 'four major eye diseases that cause blindness (cataracts, glaucoma, macular degeneration, and diabetic retinopathy)' using AI sensor technology.

Existing fundus cameras could only diagnose retinal diseases (glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration) at the back of the eye, but with Meraker's AI sensor technology, the diagnostic area can be expanded to include cataracts, dry eye, and presbyopia at the front of the eye.

It has also been made more convenient by making it portable, and the price has been reduced to one-tenth of the original price. It is highly regarded for its ability to diagnose diseases on its own and obtain high-quality data without the need for human presence or connection to an external server.

Meraker's goal is to use this seed money investment as a springboard to promote corporate investment and lay the foundation for rapid growth. Wizwiz Studio, which received seed investment, is a representative comprehensive metaverse company with world-class video and special effects technology.

“We decided to make a strategic investment because we believe in Meraker’s high growth potential, given its outstanding technological prowess in the AI field,” said Park Gwan-woo, CEO of Wizwix Studio. “We expect great synergy effects as a partner company for the metaverse business that we are promoting.”

Dr. Kim Seon-kwon of KERI and CEO of Meraker stated, “Through this investment, we will conduct even higher-level AI research and development, and through collaboration with Wizwiz Studio, we will also focus on the metaverse solution field.”

Meanwhile, KERI is actively encouraging technology startups that utilize excellent research and development results. It plans to make great efforts to prevent technology from being wasted, lead to practical commercialization, and create a stable technology startup environment that can contribute to national and social development.