UNX, a Korean AI entertainment-tech startup that enables AI characters to run livestreams and build fandoms without real-time human intervention, announced on July 30 that it has closed a Seed round led by Kakao Ventures.
Schmidt and Mark & Company co-invested.
UNX develops Fandom Engine, a proprietary AI platform that connects character IP directly to fans in real time and helps IP owners sustain fandom-driven monetization. The system allows a character to maintain a consistent personality and universe while conversing with viewers live; a human operator sets overall broadcast direction and operating guidelines, and the AI generates contextually appropriate dialogue and actions to carry the stream. Unlike traditional virtual creators whose tone can vary with the performer’s condition or mood, UNX’s AI creators preserve character identity and worldview without continuous human supervision, enabling them to build long-term fan relationships autonomously.
Whereas earlier AI character chat services mostly offered one-on-one text conversations, UNX’s AI creators interact simultaneously with multiple viewers, delivering the shared experience of a live broadcast. Sustaining natural real-time interaction with many viewers requires accumulated broadcast operation know-how and data. UNX has built this expertise and data infrastructure to run AI creators reliably across different platforms. Fandom Engine is designed to extend not only UNX’s own IP but also partners’ existing character IP into autonomous AI creators.
Globally, virtual characters that cultivate real fandoms and AI-driven livestreamers who form relationships with fans are emerging as a new creator category. Overseas examples include the AI streamers Neuro-sama and Shizuku AI. The market is shifting from human-performed virtual avatars toward AI-native creators. UNX is leading this trend in Korea, operating its own AI creator IP such as the AI agent character group AISA High School Streaming Club and Saju Oppa, all powered by Fandom Engine. The company has built an in-house pipeline from character planning and production to live broadcast operation.
The team is led by CEO Kim Kwangmin, an early member of TikTok Korea who helped grow the platform and its creator ecosystem. UNX brings together talent in AI product development, content planning and production, and character operations. The startup combines the technical ability to architect and reliably operate real-time services with the creative skills to design character personas and content that resonate with fans.
With the fresh capital, UNX plans to hire core AI and content specialists and accelerate both live content production by its AI creators and the further advancement of Fandom Engine. The company will expand its roster of original IP and pursue partnerships to turn external IP—from webtoons, entertainment, gaming, beauty and brands that already enjoy strong fandoms and narrative depth—into AI creators. UNX intends to focus on the appeal and storytelling that make fans care about a character and maintain the relationship, rather than on character visuals or generation technology alone, in order to build long-lasting fandoms. The team also plans to leverage the competitive strength of K-content and subculture IP to accelerate global expansion.
“The real competitive edge in AI creators isn’t the technology to generate a character but the operational know-how to run stable daily interactions with countless fans in live broadcasts and accumulate data,” said Kim Jiwoong, director at Kakao Ventures. “A team that has directly grown a platform and creator ecosystem at TikTok and is codifying that expertise into the Fandom Engine system puts UNX at the forefront in Korea.”
“UNX is not a company that makes a single character well; we are an AI entertainment-tech company that builds the system to expand compelling IP into fandom,” said CEO Kim Kwangmin. “We will pioneer in Korea a culture in which AI-driven creators not only interact with fans autonomously but also work as artists and influencers, then take that model global.”
In the creator economy, TikTok Live creator business company Hypernetworks recently raised pre-Series A funding, confirming growth potential in creator support services. AI-native influencer marketing automation startup Storika also secured seed funding from Amorepacific, Schmidt and others, demonstrating that AI-driven innovation is taking hold across the creator industry.
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