Yang Sang-hwan, head of Naver D2SF, speaks during a press event at its office in Gangnam District, Seoul, May 13, 2025. Courtesy of Naver
Naver and Kakao are stepping up efforts to secure future growth engines by expanding investments in promising startups in fields such as health care and artificial intelligence (AI), signaling a broader push to stay ahead of rapid technological shifts.
The tech companies’ venture arms, Naver D2SF and Kakao Ventures, are sharpening investment strategies to identify high-potential startups and build long-term partnerships as they seek to secure AI-native capabilities and expand globally.
Naver D2SF announced Tuesday that it has made follow-on investments in U.S.-focused health care startups Soundable Health and Nuvilab, the Korean-founded companies that have demonstrated product-market fit in the U.S. market.
Soundable Health, which received seed funding from Naver D2SF shortly after its founding in 2019, develops AI models that analyze body sound data to assess health status. Its first product, proudP, uses only a smartphone to analyze urination sounds and monitor symptoms related to conditions such as benign prostatic hyperplasia.
The solution, which was cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a Class II medical device, has been adopted by more than 130 urology clinics and 50,000 patients in the country.
The nutrition management startup Nuvilab also attracted follow-on capital in its latest Series A bridge round after its initial seed funding from Naver D2SF in 2021. It operates a solution that scans food on a plate and instantly analyzes type, intake volume and nutritional content, allowing institutions such as kindergartens and schools to easily track and manage dietary data.
The company achieved a 95 percent revisit rate as of the end of last year, securing a cumulative 1,000 global corporate clients and 100,000 users.
“Both teams have persistently explored what customers and the market actually want, successfully validating product-market fit in the U.S. health care market, and are now gearing up for full-scale expansion,” said Yang Sang-hwan, leader of Naver D2SF.
“Naver D2SF plans to continue focusing on follow-on investments on startups going global, leveraging the trust it has built with founders from their earliest days.”
Kakao Ventures CEO Kim Ki-jun speaks during its annual event Insightful Day 2025 in Gangnam District, Seoul, Oct. 22, 2025. Courtesy of Kakao Ventures
Meanwhile, Kakao Ventures is reinforcing its investment capabilities to identify and support AI-native startups in early stages.
As part of this effort, it recently promoted experienced investor Jang Dong-wook, who was previously in charge of ICT service investments at the company, to managing director and partner, tasking him with leading service bets in the AI era.
Since joining the company in 2014, Jang has led early-stage investments across consumer and service sectors, focusing on startups that solve everyday problems and enhance productivity for businesses.
Notably, he led the company’s early investment in Danggeun Market, which grew into one of the largest online resale platforms in Korea, as its first institutional investor in 2016, generating a 182-fold return.
“With the new appointment, (Jang) will lead Kakao Ventures’ services investments and take point on spotting and backing innovative ‘AI-native’ services ahead of the curve,” the company said.
“He is expected to help write Kakao Ventures’ next chapter by drawing on his experience steering investments through every phase of the industry’s evolution, from the early days of mobile apps to the platform boom and now the AI transition.”
Earlier this year, the company outlined a dual-track strategy to navigate the rapidly evolving AI landscape. In Korea, it will focus on areas where the country already has an edge, including manufacturing, semiconductors and secondary batteries, as well as globally competitive consumer brands and digital health care that combines high-quality data with medical AI.
Overseas, it aims to source early stakes in teams developing foundational technologies such as space and quantum computing.