Config Raises $27 Million Seed Round at Over $200 Million Valuation

Config has secured an oversubscribed $27 million seed round led by Samsung Venture Investment at a valuation of more than $200 million. The round, announced Monday, brings the startup’s total raised to $35 million. ZER01NE Ventures, the venture arm of Hyundai Motor, LG Tech Ventures and SKT America, the VC unit of South Korean telco giant SKT, participated as strategic investors.

Mirae Asset Ventures, Korea Development Bank, GS Futures, Kakao Ventures and Z Ventures also invested, alongside angel investor Pieter Abbeel. Config was founded in January 2025 by CEO and co-founder Minjoon Seo, who previously worked as a researcher at Meta and as chief scientist at Twelve Labs. Its three other co-founders have backgrounds at Waymo, Google and Naver.

The company is building the data layer for robotic foundation models and operates out of Seoul, San Jose and Hanoi. It records humans performing physical tasks in controlled studio environments and in the field. A workforce of nearly 300 people handles data production across Seoul and Hanoi.

Config has accumulated over 100,000 hours of human motion data. That total is more than 30 times the size of AgiBot World, the largest comparable open-source dataset, which contains roughly 3,000 hours. Most robotics teams train AI models on human motion data and then adapt those models for a robot.

Config takes a different approach by focusing on transforming the data before training begins. “The data must be converted, not the model. This conversion technology is Config’s core technical differentiator,” Minjoon Seo said.

The company compares its role to TSMC in chip manufacturing, supplying foundational data without building competing robots. Config is already generating revenue, according to Jack Bang, the COO and co-founder. Its current customers include large manufacturers, system integrators, and companies in the agriculture and defense sectors.

TechCrunch reported that the funding will support three priorities. The startup plans to scale its data operation toward one million hours of collected data. It aims to grow its enterprise platform business to $10 million in ARR by the end of 2027.

Config also plans to launch a cloud-based Robot-as-a-Service product that lets companies run its foundation model without requiring onboard hardware. Asia’s manufacturing strength is shaping investment in physical AI, with South Korean industrial giants backing Config’s approach to robotic data.

The company’s backers reflect a broader regional bet on robotics infrastructure as manufacturers seek proprietary AI capabilities.

Config’s data conversion method addresses the high cost of physically collecting and labeling robotic training data compared with text-based large language models.