Liner has closed a 50 billion won ($36 million) funding round, according to venture investment data platform TheVC on the 26th. LB Investment led the round, with existing shareholders including Atinum Investment and CJ Investment joining in follow-on investments. Korea Development Bank, Helios Private Equity, KB Securities and Daishin Securities came in as new investors. Liner's cumulative funding now totals 93 billion won.
Liner develops AI agent services that individual users can apply to different purposes. Its main offerings include Liner Scholar for academic work, Liner Lite for business tasks and Liner Finance for investment market research. The company has secured 14 million users across roughly 220 countries, including the United States, Europe, India and Southeast Asia.
Liner will channel the proceeds primarily into research and development. The company also plans to diversify the business model for its consumer services.
Aston Sciences Raises 39.6 Billion Won
Aston Sciences, a developer of cancer treatment vaccines, has raised 39.6 billion won. Korea Development Bank, Pathway Partners and Korea Investment Partners joined as new investors. Among existing backers, SBI Investment, ID Ventures and Lakewood Partners decided on follow-on investments.
Aston Sciences is developing AST-301, a therapeutic vaccine for gastric cancer. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently granted orphan drug designation to AST-301 for the gastric cancer indication. The company has also been carrying out a Ministry of Health and Welfare research project on messenger RNA-based personalized cancer vaccines since last year.
The proceeds will go toward clinical development of AST-301. Aston Sciences is running a Phase 2 trial of the candidate and has completed patient enrollment, with plans to release key results in the second half of this year.
NAVER D2SF Invests in Forge
NAVER D2SF has made a new investment in Forge, a startup focused on defense and manufacturing infrastructure. The round marks Forge's first institutional funding, with K-Net Investment Partners, Sazae Partners and D.CAMP also taking part.
Forge is an early-stage startup founded in January of this year. Its core business is connecting scattered domestic supply-chain factories with global defense and advanced hardware companies. The company deploys its own software into existing factory environments to collect real-time data on equipment, processes, inspection and workflow, then converts that data to match the standardized documentation and compliance frameworks that global buyers require. Domestic manufacturers can meet the requirements for entering global supply chains without a large-scale system overhaul, while global buyers gain reliable Korean manufacturing partners.
Forge is currently expanding factory partnerships around manufacturing hubs in the southeastern region, including Busan and the Gyeongnam cities of Sacheon and Changwon. It is also broadening its network of buyers in defense, aerospace, shipbuilding and robotics across North America and Europe.
