인공지능(AI) 산업의 VC 투자 동향과 시사점

Trends and Implications of Venture Capital Investment in the Artificial Intelligence Industry

Artificial intelligence (AI) has rapidly diffused across industries and societies as nations' essential strategic technology. In innovative technology, such as AI, a startup leads to technological innovation and significantly impacts the expansion of relevant industries. Thus, this study examined the trend of AI startup venture capital (VC) investments globally, focusing on ① noteworthy VC investment statuses (the number and size of the investment, company establishment, and corporate collection), ② the characteristics of each key nation's investments, and ③ the characteristics of each submarket's investments. Among the 11 countries, the results showed that Korea ranked near the bottom for absolute quantitative measures, including the number and size of investments, company establishment, and corporate collection. However, Korea has built a foundation of catching up with what AI-leading countries have established, considering Korea's high growth rate in the number and size of investments and a recent mega-round. This study has practical implications in that it determined the AI startup VC investment status of Korea's rival countries, not only G2 (US and China). The results can be used in policy-making. Furthermore, identifying the AI industry's submarkets and analyzing each market's VC investment status could be used to establish strategies for the AI industry and R&D.