Naver’s accelerator arm backed two US startups last month, Claythis and YesPlz, and will continue to seek out opportunities in North America.
Naver D2SF, a corporate venture capital and startup accelerator arm of South Korean internet company Naver, has begun investing in North American startups.
The initiative was announced at a networking meetup event in Silicon Valley last week for investors and entrepreneurs based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Launched in 2015, Naver D2SF has until now focused on South Korean startups developing AI, consumer and enterprise software technologies, with more than 110 portfolio companies.
Last month, Naver D2SF officially expanded its remit to cover the North American ecosystem. It backed AI-driven 3D character generation platform Claythis and fashion ecommerce search tool provider YesPlz AI, both headquartered in California.
“Leveraging Naver’s global business and technological achievements, we aim to help startups enter the global market and foster synergies between Naver and startups across borders,” said Yang Sang-hwan, head of Naver D2SF.
Yong-Jung ‘YJ’ Park (pictured), head of US at Naver D2SF, added: “D2SF…will actively invest to any startup interested in the Asian market or capable of creating synergy with Naver, regardless of nationality or race background – not just Korean startups founded in North America.”
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