[Series] LG Electronics Spin-off X-UP Secures Consecutive Pre-A Funding, Corporate Value Rises 48%
Field robotics startup X-UP has secured its second Pre-A investment round to expand the field application of its golf course grass management robots and prepare for mass production. The company's pre-money valuation rose to 9.6 billion won, a 47.7% increase from its first Pre-A round.
Field robotics startup X-UP has secured a second Pre-A investment round, expanding the financial foundation necessary for the field application of its golf course grass management robots and product mass production. This comes approximately two months after completing its first Pre-A round in May this year. I-BEST, a subsidiary of the investment business of INNOX, participated as a major investor in this round, and the investment amount remains undisclosed. The pre-money valuation recognized in this round is 9.6 billion won, which is approximately 47.7% higher than the 6.5 billion won during the first Pre-A investment.
With this follow-on investment, the company plans to expand product mass production and field applications at domestic golf courses, while establishing an execution foundation to enter the Japanese and US markets. It is pursuing field demonstrations and business cooperation targeting major domestic golf course operators and manufacturing companies, and plans to seek Series A investment in the first half of 2027 based on the achievements of product mass production and entry into domestic and overseas markets.
X-UP launched as an independent corporation after securing seed investment from LG Electronics and Bluepoint Partners in July 2024. As a company nurtured through LG Electronics' in-house venture program 'STUDIO341', its business starting point was a robot solution that identifies the grass condition of golf courses and automates management tasks. In 2024, LG Electronics decided to spin off five in-house venture teams, including X-UP, through STUDIO341, at which time X-UP presented a robot-based course management solution using golf course grass data.
X-UP's main business is to develop and supply autonomous driving robots that move autonomously even in complex outdoor environments, recognize target objects, and perform actual maintenance tasks, along with software that can manage them integrally. Golf courses are places that require precise field management due to large areas, various ground surfaces such as grass, sand, and slopes, changes in weather and lighting, and repeatedly occurring grass damage. X-UP is focusing on converting parts of the course management tasks, which humans have repeatedly performed, into robots and data platforms through automation in such environments.
Furthermore, X-UP provides not only hardware but also a complete system by connecting the entire process, including vision AI, RTK-based precision positioning, autonomous driving, task module control, and integrated control. According to the company, X-UP's robot system showed an average precision of 93% in day and night divot recognition demonstrations, and recorded cumulative autonomous driving of over 1,000km and a driving success rate of 99.9% in tests conducted at major domestic golf courses.
The flagship products consist of △CHE:UM △SEL:UM △Zan:D. 'CHE:UM' is an autonomous driving robot that automatically manages divots on the fairway. A divot refers to the damaged area created when a golfer's club digs into the grass and part of the soil during a shot. CHE:UM finds the location of the divot using camera-based vision AI, then moves to that point to perform sand filling (top-dressing) and brushing to level the surface. It identifies the work area while autonomously driving through the golf course by combining RTK-based precision positioning and vision AI. In addition to fairway divot restoration, CHE:UM can perform tasks such as bunker cleaning, byproduct cleanup, and chemical spraying, and is designed to be applied to repetitive maintenance tasks within the golf course using work modules.
'SEL:UM' is a robot for green management. The green is an area where ball marks, where the surface is pressed or dented as the ball lands, frequently occur, and the condition of the green is directly linked to putting quality. SEL:UM recognizes and restores ball marks on the green. The product weight is designed to be around 40kg and is scheduled to be released this October.
The integrated control platform 'Zan:D' is a system that manages the operational information of robots deployed in the field in one place. It collects and manages the location, operating status, work results, and grass damage data of each robot in real time, and also accumulates movement paths within the course and work history as data so that managers can check the field work status. It provides functions such as remote robot control, operation data analysis, and predictive maintenance, and is also equipped with match operation monitoring and pressure heatmap analysis functions.
The company has also secured achievements in technology development support. Following its selection for TIPS, a technology startup support program of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, in September 2024, X-UP was also named in the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' Deep-tech Incubator Project for Startups 1000+ in March this year. Companies selected for DIPS can receive up to 1.2 billion won in support for commercialization and R&D funds, and X-UP plans to focus this budget on advancing autonomous driving technology, product development, and expanding field demonstrations.
Rather than pursuing a single large-scale investment, X-UP managed its investment rounds by accumulating product development and field verification achievements. In the Pre-A stage, the focus was on presenting core technologies such as outdoor autonomous driving, vision AI, and precision task control, as well as initial customer demand. Subsequently, it simultaneously pursued field demonstrations at major golf courses, expansion of the customer pipeline, and preparation for mass production and business cooperation.
The investment funds will first be invested in advancing the products CHE:UM and SEL:UM and preparing for mass production. The plan is to prepare commercial products that customers can adopt by improving field durability, safety, operational precision, and long-term operational stability.
The demonstrations currently being conducted with major domestic golf course operators will be converted into paid adoptions, and certification procedures and local demonstrations will also be prepared for entry into the Japanese and U.S. markets.
The autonomous driving software and integrated control platform will also be advanced. The company plans to develop services that operate multiple robots within a single system and support customers' operational decision-making by accumulating and analyzing work results and field data. Based on this, the company also intends to expand the scope of application to the agriculture, industrial infrastructure, and defense sectors.
The co-founding team experienced technology development and business in the fields of manufacturing automation, robotics, and smart factories at LG Electronics for over 15 years. While the level of automation inside factories has risen rapidly, they noted that in wide and unstructured outdoor spaces, such as golf courses and agricultural sites, the proportion of worker experience and repetitive labor remains high.
In the process of examining golf course sites, they confirmed that while divot and ball mark restoration tasks are repeated daily across wide courses, dedicated automation solutions for these tasks are limited. They judged the golf course to be an early commercialization market where outdoor autonomous driving, vision AI, and precision work technologies can be verified in actual customer environments. X-UP is developing field robotics technology with golf courses as its first business area.
The short-term goal is the commercialization of CHE:UM and SEL:UM and the expansion of their adoption in domestic golf courses. While linking field demonstrations to paid adoption and recurring revenue, the company is discussing product mass production and the establishment of a post-management system with domestic manufacturing partners. In Japan and the U.S., the company plans to promote local demonstrations and market entry.
In the long term, the goal is to grow into a global field robotics company that performs repetitive and high-intensity tasks in outdoor sites such as golf courses, agriculture, public green spaces, and industrial facilities. Rather than stopping at robot supply, the company aims to build an outdoor work automation system by linking AI, robotics, field data, and integrated control.
In the robot business, it is more important whether the robot works repeatedly and stably at the customer's site rather than technical demonstrations. Outdoor sites have many variables such as terrain, weather, communication environments, and user behavior, which creates challenges different from laboratory environments.
Rather than increasing product perfection from the beginning, it is necessary to specifically define the problems customers face, verify them quickly in the field, and then improve them. X-UP is also in the stage of advancing its products and business, proceeding with development and commercialization centered on field verification.
※ This article was written after verifying the facts through investigation.
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