Korea’s biggest manufacturers back Config, the TSMC of robot data

In a significant move for the robotics industry, Config, a startup based in Seoul and San Jose, has garnered substantial support from some of South Korea's leading manufacturers. This investment comes at a time when Asia is intensifying its focus on physical AI, leveraging its storied manufacturing capabilities that have established the region as a global industrial leader. Recently, Config completed an oversubscribed seed funding round, securing $27 million led by Samsung Venture Investment. This investment elevates the company's valuation to over $200 million, bringing its total funding to $35 million. Notable backers in this round also include Hyundai Motor’s venture arm ZER01NE Ventures, LG Tech Ventures, and SKT America, along with angel investor Pieter Abbeel, a prominent figure in AI research. Founded in January 2025 by CEO Minjoon Seo, a former researcher at Meta, and his team—comprising experts from Waymo, Google, and Naver—Config aims not to build robots but to create the essential data that these machines need to learn and perform tasks efficiently. Seo emphasized the challenge of training robots compared to software-based AI, highlighting the complexities involved in gathering and labeling physical motion data. As demand for advanced robotics grows, so too does the cost associated with data collection. Config positions itself as a crucial player in this landscape, akin to TSMC in the semiconductor industry, by providing the necessary data that enables other companies to develop their own robotic AI systems. Currently, the startup is seeing revenue from a diverse clientele, including major manufacturers and businesses in the agriculture and defense sectors. With operations in Seoul and Hanoi, Config has amassed over 100,000 hours of human motion data, significantly surpassing other datasets in the field. Seo explained their unique approach: rather than simply training AI models with existing data, Config transforms the data beforehand to ensure it aligns with how robots will move and interact with their environments. This methodology, which Seo likens to language translation, is part of what sets Config apart from its competitors. The newly acquired funding will be directed towards expanding data operations to one million hours, scaling their enterprise platform towards a projected $10 million in annual recurring revenue by 2027, and launching a cloud-based Robot-as-a-Service offering that simplifies access to Config’s advanced data models without the need for on-site hardware.