Naver D2SF announced new investments in AI startups Vandal AI (CEO Jonathan Munk) and Cnaps.AI (CEO In-hwan Yoo). Both companies are recognized as early-stage startups offering novel approaches to content licensing and AI workflows, respectively, in the rapidly evolving AI ecosystem.
Bandal AI has developed Cashmere, an AI-powered premium content licensing platform. Cashmere connects premium content publishers with AI companies, protecting content intellectual property (IP) while enabling legal data utilization and monetization. Its key feature is its integrated approach to token-level access control, permission settings, usage tracking, and revenue settlement, all delivered through OmniPub, a content format optimized for AI environments.
Founded in 2025, Bandal AI has built industry understanding and trust, led by a co-founding team with experience in content platform startups. The company has partnered with global publishers such as John Wiley & Sons and Harvard Business Publishing, and is also collaborating with AI companies like Perplexity. This seed round included participation from Naver D2SF, Rich Capital, and Ingram Content Group.
Synapse AI aims to connect appropriate AI models based on purpose and conditions, automatically configuring optimal AI workflows through intelligence mapping. Launched earlier this year, Synapse Studio supports over 50 AI models focused on text and images, and is attracting attention primarily from the e-commerce, entertainment, and content industries. The company updates its models every two weeks and plans to expand support to various modalities, including voice, video, and 3D.
Founded in 2025, Synapse AI is a team comprised of individuals from NVIDIA, Google Research, and global gaming companies. This investment marks the company's first institutional investment since its founding, with Naver D2SF participating as the lead investor and Bluepoint, Laguna Investment, and Pebble Fund co-investing.
Through this investment, Naver D2SF plans to discover startups that present new standards in response to the changing AI environment and support their technological and market growth.
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