MetisX, a fabless startup in South Korea, raises $44M in Series A funding

SEOUL, South Korea, May 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- MetisX, a fabless startup based in South Korea, has recently secured $44 million in Series A funding, bringing its total funding to over $50 million. The company, established in 2022, focuses on developing intelligent memory solutions using Compute Express Link (CXL) technology, which is seen as the next-generation standard for interconnect technology. MetisX aims to revolutionize traditional CPU-centric computing architectures by introducing a data-centric approach that promises to be smarter, faster, and more cost-effective.

"We are pleased to have successfully achieved our Series A funding goal amidst a challenging market environment," said Jin Kim, CEO and co-founder of MetisX. "Our goal is to become the next NVIDIA, not by competing directly against them, but by creating a new market in the data-centric domain to pave the way for the AI era."

One of the company's primary goals is to address the "memory wall" issue that many industries face, particularly those dealing with vast amounts of data such as data centers, database management, artificial intelligence, and DNA analysis. By leveraging CXL technology, MetisX seeks to overcome performance bottlenecks associated with frequent memory accesses in computing systems.

Despite being in the early stages of development, MetisX has attracted significant attention from new investors such as SV Investment, STIC Ventures, LB Investment, and the Industrial Bank of Korea, as well as follow-on investors from the seed round including Mirae Asset Venture Investment, Mirae Asset Capital, IMM Investment, SBI Investment, Tony Investment, and Wonik Investment Partners. These firms have made bold bets on the company's potential, both in terms of its innovative product offerings and the expertise of its leadership team.

Led by Jin Kim, who boasts a distinguished career as one of the youngest VPs at SK Hynix with around 20 years of experience in data-centric solutions, MetisX is well-positioned to disrupt the semiconductor industry. Additionally, the company's Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Dohun Kim, and Chief Product Officer (CPO), Harry Kim, bring valuable expertise from their backgrounds in major semiconductor companies.

MetisX has already made significant strides in product development, having completed prototypes specialized in large-scale data processing such as vector databases, big data analysis, and DNA analysis. These prototypes have demonstrated impressive performance, being twice as fast as conventional server CPUs. Building on this success, the company plans to manufacture its inaugural ASIC chip by early next year, targeting major data center customers including tech giants such as Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Meta. MetisX plans to expand the company aggressively, establish a branch in the US, and reinforce its marketing and sales organization to successfully penetrate its target market.

About MetisX

Founded in 2022, MetisX is a fabless startup based in South Korea. Our mission is to pioneer fundamental technologies that will usher in a data-centric computing world. We focus on delivering cutting-edge solutions tailored to meet the needs of customers in sectors with large-scale data to process such as AI, big data, vector databases, DNA analysis, and more. Our expertise lies in the development of intelligent memory solutions and data-centric computing architecture, with a foundation built on Compute Express Link (CXL) standards. Through relentless innovation and strategic partnerships, MetisX is dedicated to pushing the boundaries of what's possible in the realm of memory technology.

For more information, please visit https://www.metisx.com or https://linkedin.com/company/metisx.

SOURCE MetisX