[Alpha Biz= Paul Lee] AXZ, the operator of South Korean web portal Daum, said on January 29 that it is seeking new growth opportunities through a strategic collaboration with artificial intelligence company Upstage.
AXZ’s parent company Kakao and Upstage each held board meetings on the same day and approved the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to pursue a share-swap transaction and related arrangements. Under the agreement, Kakao plans to transfer its stake in AXZ to Upstage, while acquiring a certain equity stake in Upstage. AXZ is currently a wholly owned subsidiary of Kakao.
Since being spun off from Kakao in May last year, AXZ has focused on strengthening its fundamentals through faster decision-making and improved operational efficiency. The company has also been advancing its business model by launching new services and identifying new growth engines in response to the rapidly evolving AI industry landscape.
Upstage, which has been seeking opportunities to expand its business based on its large language model (LLM) “Solar,” proposed the collaboration to AXZ, citing the latter’s broad user base and extensive content data assets. The two companies reached the agreement based on a shared conviction regarding the need to develop new AI-driven services and the potential for strong synergies.
If the transaction is finalized following due diligence, Upstage plans to further enhance its AI capabilities by leveraging Daum’s vast content data and to build a next-generation AI platform by integrating its “Solar” LLM with Daum’s services. The business combination is also expected to create synergies for Upstage’s “independent AI foundation model” project, aimed at expanding the AI ecosystem across South Korea.
Alphabiz Reporter Paul Lee(hoondork1977@alphabiz.co.kr)
