RLWRLD Emerges from Stealth with $14.8M to Build Foundation Models for Robotics
South Korean startup RLWRLD has officially emerged from stealth with a bold mission: to create foundational AI models tailored specifically for robotics. The company, founded by seasoned entrepreneur Jung-Hee Ryu, has secured 21 billion KRW (approximately $14.8 million) in seed funding to fuel its vision of automating human-centric workflows across manufacturing, logistics, and even domestic environments.
The round was led by Hashed, with participation from Mirae Asset Venture Investment, Global Brain, and a notable lineup of strategic investors, including LG Electronics, SK Telecom, KDDI, Ana Group, and Amber Manufacturing. These partnerships are key to RLWRLD’s strategy — enabling it to gain access to real-world industrial data and quickly iterate on proof-of-concept projects.
From LLMs to RFMs: Why RLWRLD Is Betting on Robotics
While generative AI and large language models (LLMs) have attracted massive investment and attention, Ryu believes the real opportunity for Korea and Japan lies in robotics foundation models (RFMs) — a domain where both countries have global strengths in manufacturing but have so far lacked leading AI startups.
To that end, RLWRLD has recruited six top professors and their labs from institutions like KAIST, SNU, and POSTECH, forming a deep bench of AI and robotics talent. Their focus is building an AI model that combines the reasoning capabilities of LLMs with the physical adaptability of traditional robotics software.
Unlike competitors who rely on low degree-of-freedom (DoF) machines such as two-fingered grippers, RLWRLD has secured access to high-DoF humanoid robots, aiming for advanced capabilities like five-finger dexterity — something even major players like Tesla, Figure AI, and 1X haven’t yet demonstrated.
Racing Toward Revenue with PoCs and Industrial Deployments
RLWRLD plans to monetize quickly through proof-of-concept deployments with its strategic investors, with the long-term goal of expanding into factories, logistics hubs, retail, and domestic robots. For now, the company is laser-focused on industrial clients — where automation demand is high and the ROI is clear.
The company has 13 employees and is currently building a platform that can support industrial, collaborative, mobile autonomous robots, and humanoids. A demonstration of its humanoid-based autonomous action is scheduled for later this year.
The Bigger Picture: A Shifting Robotics Landscape
RLWRLD enters the field at a time when global robotics is rapidly evolving. Over 540,000 industrial robots were installed worldwide in 2023, pushing the global active robot count past 4 million, according to IFR. But despite advances, robots still struggle with dynamic, human-like tasks — a gap RLWRLD aims to bridge.
Other startups like Skild AI and Physical Intelligence, along with major players like Tesla, Google DeepMind, and Nvidia, are also racing to build robotics-native foundation models. But with deep academic roots, strategic backing, and a manufacturing-heavy home market, RLWRLD believes it has the right ingredients to lead in the space.
