AI-based agri-tech company AOFarm boasts advanced technology that identifies “imperfect produce.” The company’s core competitive edge is its transparent sorter. It captures agricultural products in 360 degrees at once to detect blemishes. Existing sorters roll produce to find defects, making them difficult to use for items such as chili peppers or strawberries that are easily damaged even by slight contact.

In March 2024, KRW 3.5 billion raised from NH NongHyup Bank and others became the driving force behind the development of this technology. AOFarm devoted more than two years to development with these funds and will release the transparent sorter next month. AOFarm CEO Kwak Ho-jae stated, “The company plans to export this device to Vietnam, North America and other markets within this year.”

As innovative finance, which actively invests in industries with high future value, flows into Korean agricultural companies, expectations are rising that agri-tech could grow into a strong export sector for Korea. Agri-tech supported by venture capital is assessed as enhancing productivity and efficiency on farms that lack labor and capital.

Spatial data company Dabeeo is also cited as a product of innovative finance. Dabeeo is a company that analyzes spaces such as agricultural and forest areas by combining high-resolution satellite imagery with AI. Established in 2012, it was the first in the world to introduce 30 cm-class ultra-high-resolution satellite imagery and AI analysis technology. Using this technology, it precisely analyzes the condition of individual trees in forests and assesses their health.

The company raised KRW 2.5 billion in 2017 from sources including the Mirae Asset–Naver Fund, and KRW 9.0 billion in 2019 from Shinhan Capital, NH Venture Investment and others. Based on this, it expanded servers and graphics processing units (GPUs), reinforced related personnel, and advanced AI through research and development. As a result, it grew into a global company by establishing a Vietnamese subsidiary in 2019 and a U.S. subsidiary in 2022. In 2024, it launched a palm oil plantation monitoring project covering 765 ㎢—a larger area than Seoul—in partnership with an Indonesian company.

Innovative finance has also opened export channels for regionally specialized products in Korea. Mr. Milk, a Jeju-based ice cream and cheese manufacturer established in 2014, sells milk and gelato made from raw milk produced in Jeju. It secured mass production facilities with capital injected from the Agro-Fisheries & Food Fund, a fund jointly created by the public and private sectors. The company plans to expand its market to China and Southeast Asia. It has set a goal of increasing its corporate value to KRW 55 billion by 2028.

Kim Kwan-soo, a professor at Seoul National University’s Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, said, “Compared with other cutting-edge industries, agriculture is less intensely competitive, making it a blue ocean industry with strong export potential,” and advised, “Because capital injections arrive relatively late compared with manufacturing, the government should take the lead and support long-term development.”

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