DEEPX's valuation surges about 285-fold from Series A to 2.85 trillion won in Series D, showing explosive growth [fn Market Watch]

[Financial News] DEEPX, an on-device artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor company, has been valued at 2.85 trillion won based on its pre-money valuation in its Series D funding round. Compared with the roughly 10 billion won valuation at the time of its Series A funding round in 2019, the company’s value has risen about 285-fold in seven years.
According to the investment banking industry on the 1st, DEEPX recently secured more than 300 billion won in funding through the open and closing of its Series D round. Private equity funds, financial holding companies, securities firms, venture capital firms, and strategic investors participated. The company plans to raise about 600 billion won in total by year-end through multiple closings in the second half of the year.
The company’s valuation was reportedly finalized based on multiple assessments by independent external appraisal firms selected separately by DEEPX and its key investors.
DEEPX’s valuation rose from about 10 billion won in Series A to the 80 billion to 100 billion won range in Series B in 2021, then to the 700 billion won range in Series C in 2024, before reaching 2.85 trillion won in this round. Even in a little over two years since Series C, the valuation has more than quadrupled.
Capstone Partners played a key role in the early investment rounds. In June 2018, just four months after DEEPX was founded, Capstone Partners effectively made the seed investment alone and became the company’s first institutional investor. It also followed up with an investment in the Series A funding round in 2019. Magna Investment, Shinhan Bank, Pathfinder H, and East Gate Partners later joined. In the Series B round in 2021, the investor base expanded to include KDB, Hyundai Motor Company, Timefolio Asset Management, Shinhan Capital, and DS Asset Management.
The main driver behind the valuation increase is its commercialization track record. After starting mass production of its first-generation chip, the DX-M1, at the end of 2025, DEEPX secured 48 purchase orders in eight countries within eight months, and overseas orders now account for more than 70% of the total.
Its partnership with Hyundai Motor Group has been cited as a major factor behind the higher valuation. In 2023, DEEPX signed a memorandum of understanding with Hyundai Motor Group Robotics LAB and, after three years of joint development, applied its on-device AI chip for robots to Hyundai Motor Company’s autonomous delivery robot, DAL-e Delivery. The two companies unveiled the technology at CES 2026 and plan to begin full-scale installation in robots that will be deployed in real-world settings this year. The company reportedly resolved the heat and power issues that arose in GPU-based operation with DEEPX’s low-power chip consuming less than 5 watts. An investment banking source said, "It is meaningful that the company secured a supply reference with a major conglomerate for robot mass production, going beyond simple proof of concept testing." 
In addition, development of the next-generation DX-M2 chip through a 2-nanometer process contract with Samsung Electronics and visibility on an IPO also supported investor demand. DEEPX selected Morgan Stanley as its lead underwriter in September 2025.
There are, however, concerns about the elevated valuation. DEEPX is expected to post sales of around 3.3 billion won in 2025, meaning the current valuation appears to have largely priced in expectations for future growth, including its 2026 sales target of 60 billion won and further expansion in mass production and overseas orders.
Founded in 2018, DEEPX is a fabless company led by CEO Kim Nok-won, a former senior engineer at Apple Inc. It designs NPU, or neural processing units, that perform AI computations directly on devices.


[email protected] Kim Kyung-a Reporter