South Korea-based artificial intelligence (AI) technology developer Skelter Labs has raised ₩10bn ($9.2m) in a round featuring subsidiaries of internet group Kakao and diversified conglomerate Lotte Group, TechCrunch has reported.
Kakao invested through its AI-focused KakaoBrain division and venture capital vehicle K Cube Ventures, while Lotte took part through TV and internet retail subsidiary Lotte Homeshopping. They were joined by Stonebridge Ventures, the VC arm of investment firm Stonebridge.
Skelter was founded in 2015 as a business incubator focused on AI technologies such as booking apps and chatbots. It has since moved development in-house and partnered Korea-based corporates in areas like deep learning, context recognition and conversational AI.
The capital will help Skelter take its services into overseas markets. The company plans to develop intelligent virtual assistant technology to power products such as smart speakers, automobiles and wearable devices.
KakaoBrain and K Cube had previously provided Skelter with an undisclosed amount of funding in May 2017, and its investors also include VC firm Access Ventures.