Series Ventures and Locon Sign Media-Relations Partnership Built on AI Press Tools

Series Ventures (시리즈벤처스), an accelerator focused on South Korea's southeastern region and led by co-chief executives Park Jun-sang and Kwak Sung-wook, and Locon (로콘), a company based at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) and led by chief executive Hong Kyung-won, signed a business partnership agreement on media relations on Sept. 8 at the Series Ventures office in Nam-gu, Busan.

The agreement is intended to strengthen the press outreach of Series Ventures and the startups in its investment portfolio, using Locon's AI press-release writing and reporter-matching service, Neta (neta-ai.com).

Early-stage startups rarely have staff dedicated to public relations, because their people are concentrated on product development and fundraising. Industry figures say that even when a company writes a press release, it has no data to judge which outlet or which reporter to send it to, so results diverge at the distribution stage.

Under the agreement, the two organisations will cooperate on writing and distributing press releases for portfolio companies using Neta; on press outreach for Series Ventures' own announcements, including fund formation, investments and programme operations; and on matching outlets and reporters and arranging coverage using a reporter database.

"We have often seen early-stage companies with good technology and business models miss opportunities because no one knows about them," Series Ventures co-chief executives Park Jun-sang and Kwak Sung-wook said. "Through this agreement we will provide practical support so that our portfolio companies can secure the market recognition they need when raising investment and expanding their business."

Hong Kyung-won, chief executive of Locon, said: "Neta is a tool that lets even companies without a public relations officer deliver their own story to the right outlet and the right reporter. By working with Series Ventures, which has led the startup ecosystem in the southeast, we will set a precedent for increasing media exposure for startups in the region."

Series Ventures is a leading accelerator in the southeastern region. It has invested a total of 25 billion won in about 80 companies to date. It finds and develops startups in the region working on deep technology and aiming to expand overseas.

Locon is a startup founded by students at UNIST and is headquartered in the university's industry-academia cooperation building. It turns the distinctive characteristics of companies and individuals into data and develops AI services based on it. Its products include Neta, a reporter-matching service based on analysis of news article data, and Sona, a brand voice service that learns a company's decision-making criteria and writing style and edits AI output into the company's own voice.