[Edaily Marketin Song Seung-Hyeon Reporter] A company developing “AI creators”—which broadcast and interact with fans autonomously without human intervention—has secured its first round of investment. This is seen as a sign that venture capital (VC) funds are beginning to focus on “operational capabilities”—specifically, the ability to run these AI-generated characters in daily live streams and accumulate fan reaction data—rather than merely the quality of the characters themselves.

According to the venture capital (VC) industry on the 30th, AI entertainment tech startup UNX secured seed funding led by Kakao Ventures. Schmidt and Mark & Company co-invested. The investment amount was not disclosed. Founded in January of this year, UNX achieved the remarkable feat of securing its first institutional funding in just over six months.

Based on its proprietary system, “Fandom Engine,” UNX connects character intellectual property (IP) with fans in real time. Once a human sets the overall direction and operational guidelines for a broadcast, the AI generates context-appropriate dialogue and actions to drive the broadcast forward. The company plans and operates its own IP, including the character groups “AISA High School Streaming Club” and “Saju Oppa.”

The investment in UnX is drawing attention because the market’s focus is shifting from “human-acted virtual characters” (virtual creators) to a stage where “AI itself becomes the creator.” With existing virtual creators, the character’s tone varies depending on the actor’s condition or emotional state, and since each character is tied to a single person, there were limitations to scaling. Fandom Engine focuses on maintaining the consistency of a character’s personality and worldview without requiring continuous human intervention. This design targets the industry’s structural bottlenecks: actor-related risks and operational downtime.

The revenue model is also evolving. While AI character chat services—which recently attracted a flood of VC funding—were limited to one-on-one text conversations with users, UNX’s AI creators communicate with multiple viewers simultaneously, providing the “shared experience” unique to live streaming. The calculation is that the revenue structure, which was previously confined to individual subscriptions and pay-per-use models, can now expand to include fandom-based revenue streams such as donations and e-commerce.

This is also why investors are placing more weight on service operation experience than on the technology itself. While AI technologies for character generation and voice synthesis are rapidly becoming mainstream, the data accumulated through stable, daily communication with a vast audience is difficult to replicate in the short term. Analysts note that the competitive focus in the market has shifted from “technological capability” to “practical operational capabilities.”

Another pillar of scalability is external IP. Fandom Engine is designed to be applied not only to the company’s own IP but also to IP owned by partners. UNX plans to use this investment to hire talent in the AI engine and content fields and to further enhance Fandom Engine, while also expanding partnerships to transform IP—such as webtoons, entertainment, games, and beauty—that already have an established fan base and narrative into AI creators. This structure allows the company to diversify the risk associated with the success of its own IP while generating recurring revenue.

The key challenge lies in the variables that arise as the business scales up. While AI streamers like “NeuroSama” and “Shizuku AI” are cited as precedents overseas, issues such as platform-specific policies on AI-generated content, monetization standards, original creators’ rights, and the potential for characters to make inappropriate remarks during unmanned operations remain unresolved. Whether meaningful fanbase metrics can be confirmed in the domestic market is expected to determine the pace of this model’s expansion.

Kim Ji-woong, a director at Kakao Ventures who led this deal, stated, “The key to success for AI creators lies not in the technology used to create characters, but in the operational capability to consistently and stably manage daily interactions with countless fans during live streams while accumulating data.” He added, “A team that directly cultivated the platform and creator ecosystem at TikTok is now applying that know-how to a system called ‘Fandom Engine.’” Founder and CEO Kim Kwang-min is a former early member of TikTok Korea.