Bone AI raises $12M to challenge Asia’s defense giants with AI-powered robotics | TechCrunch

South Korea’s major defense giants have amassed roughly $69 billion in order backlogs as of late 2024, according to media reports. Seoul is also accelerating investment in advanced weapons systems and expanding its defense ties, particularly with Europe. With the new EU-South Korea Security and Defence Partnership in 2024 and growing exports of vehicles and artillery, the country has become the second-largest arms supplier to European NATO members.

Yet despite that enormous industrial footprint, remarkably few startups have emerged to match or challenge the incumbents. The country’s defense-tech startup scene is still nascent, exposing a wide gap between Korea’s manufacturing strength and its early-stage innovation.

Bone AI, a new startup based in Seoul and Palo Alto, California, launched earlier this year with an ambitious plan to build a fully unified AI platform that ties together software, hardware, and manufacturing.

The company develops next-generation autonomous air (UAVs), ground (UGVs), and marine (USVs) vehicles for defense and government clients, focusing largely on B2G contracts. While it ultimately aims to operate all three types of systems, Bone is starting with its defense-focused aerial drones, which are designed to streamline missions such as logistics support, wildfire detection, and anti-drone defense.

The company, founded by DK Lee (who also co-founded MarqVision), has raised a $12 million seed round led by Third Prime with participation from Kolon Group, a South Korean strategic investor that has expertise in developing advanced materials and manufacturing. Kolon is an ideal strategic partner for Bone, which operates across AI, robotics, and next-generation manufacturing, Lee said in an exclusive interview with TechCrunch.

The startup is already generating revenue, landing a seven-figure B2G contract and pulling in $3 million in its first year of operation, Lee noted. In addition, Bone has been selected as a winner in a South Korean government-backed end-to-end logistics program that will deploy UAVs and UGVs powered by its autonomy stack.

When asked how a company less than a year old is already securing contracts and generating revenue, Lee told TechCrunch that Bone acquired a South Korean drone company called D-Makers, and its intellectual property(IP), just six months after launch. Originally focused on AI models for robotics, Bone is now integrating its existing AI division with the newly acquired company, and more acquisitions are on the horizon, he added.

Lee personally committed more than 10% of the round, approximately $1.5 million, he told TechCrunch. “That was important to me because I wanted to show both investors and my team that I’m fully invested, financially and emotionally, in this mission,” he said.

Bone is Lee’s second venture. His experience co-founding MarqVision gave him firsthand insight into building and scaling AI products worldwide, but it also convinced him that the next frontier of AI isn’t just digital; it’s physical.

“After leaving MarqVision, I basically started from zero — going to robotics conferences like IEEE ICRA, cold-emailing the engineers behind Google RT-1/RT-2, and even walking up to Jim Keller, CEO of Tenstorrent, at a cafe just to introduce myself and grab a coffee later,” Lee said.

Bone AI shouldn’t be pigeonholed as just a defense tech company, the founder continued. With broader ambitions, Lee frames it as a “physical AI” firm, bringing together advanced AI simulation, autonomy algorithms, embedded engineering, hardware design, and large-scale manufacturing under one roof.

While preparing his second company, Lee observed that AI and hardware were advancing in silos.

“No one was building the connective tissue, the industrial backbone that allows intelligent machines to exist at scale. Even Nvidia, the most valuable AI company today, relies on a vast ecosystem of fabrication and manufacturing partners across Asia and Europe,” he told TechCrunch.

Lee points to South Korea’s track record of building global hardware manufacturing powerhouses like Hyundai, Samsung, and LG. “This is why we should see more drone and small-robotics companies emerging here, and why Korea is fully capable of supporting them,” the CEO said. “Our mission at Bone is to build the supply chain for physical AI within South Korea, and then expand that capability to the U.S., Europe, and other allied countries.”

Anduril has become a household name in the U.S., boasting a valuation north of $30 billion, while in Europe, Helsing last raised funding at around $13 billion. Even in smaller markets like Israel, companies such as Kela Technologies have achieved similar recognition.

Asia has yet to see the same level of adoption, Michael Kim, general partner at Third Prime, told TechCrunch. “As economies around the world focus on reindustrialization, not just the U.S., Bone sits at the intersection of sovereign AI, multipolarity, and reindustrialization,” he said, highlighting both the company’s mission and the problem it aims to solve.

South Korea has high-quality, cost-competitive hardware manufacturing across multiple sectors such as heavy industry, shipbuilding, cars, and semiconductors.

“Many niche hardware players exist but haven’t received Bay Area VC funding; Bone has a strong ‘buy versus build strategy’ to acquire and integrate these assets, accelerating product maturity and commercial traction,” Kim said.