Seoul- and San Jose-based startup Config has raised $27 million in a seed round led by Samsung Venture Investment, with Hyundai, LG, and other strategic investors joining to support its mission to become the primary data provider for robotic artificial intelligence.
- Config secured $27M seed round led by Samsung Venture Investment.
- Startup focuses on providing key robotic training data and conversion technology.
- Backed by top South Korean manufacturers including Hyundai and LG.
What happened
Config, a startup dedicated to building the data infrastructure for robot foundation models (RFMs), successfully closed an oversubscribed $27 million seed funding round led by Samsung Venture Investment. The round also attracted strategic investments from Hyundai Motor’s venture arm, LG Tech Ventures, and SKT America, among others, lifting Config’s total funding to $35 million within a year of its January 2025 founding.
The company, headquartered in Seoul and San Jose, focuses on gathering and transforming human motion data into formats uniquely suited to robotic AI training. Config already serves large-scale manufacturers and clients in sectors like agriculture and defense. Its workforce, spread across studios in Seoul and Hanoi, has amassed over 100,000 hours of human movement recordings, a dataset significantly larger than existing open-source alternatives.
Why it matters
Robotics AI poses distinct development challenges compared to software-only AI models because collecting physical training data requires specialized hardware, facilities, and human operators. Config aims to lower these barriers by acting as a specialized data provider that prepares high-quality, robot-specific datasets, allowing robotics developers to avoid the costly and complex process of generating raw motion data themselves.
The backing from South Korea’s industrial giants underscores the strategic importance of data in advancing robotics capabilities. As more manufacturers seek proprietary robot AI, Config’s role resembles that of TSMC in semiconductor supply chains: a neutral but essential partner powering innovation without competing in end-product markets. This model supports scalable robotics AI development across diverse industries.
What to watch next
Config plans to deploy its new capital towards expanding its data collection and conversion technologies, scaling operations, and accelerating market traction. Observers should monitor how it deepens partnerships within manufacturing and other sectors that rely on robotic automation, as well as how quickly it can build out datasets and solutions that improve robotic performance and adaptability.
The startup’s progress could signal a shift in how robotics AI is developed worldwide, placing a premium on data quality and infrastructure providers. Watching Config’s technology adoption and competitor responses, such as from companies like Physical Intelligence and Skild AI, will offer insight into evolving dynamics between robotics hardware makers, AI developers, and data platform providers.