Steelcut wins grand prize as six AI startups receive 520 million won in support

AI security company Steelcut won the grand prize in MediA'X' Challenge 2026, leading six startups selected to receive a combined 520 million won in prize money and cloud credits, SBS Foundation and Korea Investment Accelerator announced. The organizers held the awards ceremony on the 13th.

Numz AI and Nota AI won top excellence awards, while Alita Med, Spack Space and Moti received excellence awards. The support comprises 260 million won in prize money and 260 million won in cloud credits from technology partner NAVER Cloud.

Steelcut will receive 100 million won in prize money. The two top excellence award winners will each receive 50 million won, and the three excellence award winners will each receive 20 million won. NAVER Cloud is matching each cash award one to one with cloud credits to support technology development.

SBS Foundation and Korea Investment Accelerator have jointly operated MediA'X' Challenge 2026 as a program to identify and nurture technology startups since 2023. This year, the program expanded its recruitment scope to cover all areas of AI and attracted more than 600 teams.

Twenty-five teams passed document screening and advanced to the final presentation evaluation on the 29th of last month. Judges focused on the distinctiveness and maturity of their AI technology, team capabilities, and potential for commercialization and expansion.

According to the organizers, Steelcut, led by CEO Lee Jeong-hoon, develops technology to proactively defend against deepfakes and detect AI-generated images and videos. It provides the technology through an API that allows companies to integrate it easily into their services. The technology received high marks for its direct relevance to establishing the trustworthiness of media content amid the rapid growth of generative AI content.

Top excellence award winner Numz AI, led by CEO Yoo Jae-min, develops a tabular data foundation model (TFM) that predicts missing values in tables through a single inference, without separate training or tuning. Fellow top excellence award winner Nota AI, led by CEO Jeong Mu-gyeong, jointly designs search-specific semiconductors, software and storage to quickly locate and supply the data needed for AI responses.

Among the excellence award winners, Alita Med, led by CEO Mo Seong-hui, develops medical devices for cardiovascular interventions that combine AI-based analysis of calcified lesions with intravascular lithotripsy (IVL).

Spack Space, led by CEO Yeom Min-ho, operates an all-in-one AI video content platform connecting content planning, generation, editing, distribution and performance analysis. Moti, led by CEO Bang Ji-won, develops a physical AI actuation platform that analyzes human movement data in real time to produce optimal force.

The winners will also have opportunities to be considered for investment by Korea Investment Accelerator. Companies seeking funding can undergo investment reviews through individual meetings with investment managers. Support will also be available for participation linked to the accelerator's Righteous Companionship program, along with promotional content production to help the winners publicize their technologies and businesses.

Baek Yeo-hyeon, CEO of Korea Investment Accelerator, said expanding recruitment to AI as a whole this year had attracted more than 600 teams and brought the organizers into contact with competitive teams in security, data, semiconductors, healthcare, robotics and other fields. Baek pledged continued follow-up support to help the winners achieve tangible investment and business results.

Lee Kyeong-jin, secretary-general of SBS Foundation, said the event demonstrated how AI technology was creating new value through its application in media and other industries, and pledged to help the winning companies grow.

Copyright © SBS & SBSi. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction, redistribution and use for AI training prohibited.

Read the original (Korean)