NAVER's venture arm backs virtual idol startup 23i
What's the deal? NAVER D2SFDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, the corporate venture arm of Korean tech giant NAVERDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, has invested an undisclosed amount in 23i, a South Korean virtual entertainment startup led by chief executive officer Hyungmin Kim. The deal was announced on July 8, 2026.
What does 23i do? The startup builds virtual artists and the content around them, backed by an in-house technology pipeline. Its tools include real-time motion capture, toon shaders, and quadrupedal and flying motion control systems that let a small team produce high-quality content quickly.
What's the endgame? 23i's virtual boy group WE GO-6, unveiled in 2025, is built on a "multi-persona idol" concept in which each member expresses a distinct persona. The company wants to deepen how virtual artists build narratives with their fandoms.
Why now? The global virtual entertainment market is growing rapidly, particularly in Korea and Japan. NAVER D2SF cited 23i's content production capabilities and technology pipeline as reasons for the investment.
Kim said the funding will help strengthen the company's content infrastructure. "By building our own technology, we aim to create fan-participatory content that has not been possible in the traditional entertainment industry," he said.
What's next? Sanghwan Yang, head of NAVER D2SF, said the firm will "explore potential collaboration opportunities with NAVER's entertainment businesses and related teams such as Motion Stage." He called 23i "a team boldly challenging the scalability of the virtual industry."
The signal: NAVER D2SF has invested consistently across the virtual content stack — 3D engines, data, motion capture, and character IP. The bet on 23i shows how established tech players are positioning around virtual artists as fandom-driven entertainment scales in Asia.
Read more: PR Newswire
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
