SBVA announced that it has committed €30 million in a seed funding round for Advanced Machine Intelligence (AMI), a frontier artificial intelligence research lab founded by deep learning pioneer Yann LeCun. The investment positions SBVA as a strategic partner supporting the development and commercialization of next-generation AI systems built around “world models,” a new architecture designed to help machines understand and reason about the physical world.
The funding round also includes participation from several prominent global investors. Institutional backers include Greycroft Partners, Cathay Innovation, Hiro Capital, and NVIDIA. In addition, individual investors such as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and former Google chairman Eric Schmidt contributed capital to the round.
SBVA made its investment through multiple funds, including the 2023 Alpha Korea Fund, Alpha Intelligence Fund, and its newly created Alpha AI Architecture Fund. The new fund counts major corporations and institutions as limited partners, including Coupang and Doosan, aiming to support the early adoption of advanced AI technologies across Asia’s industrial ecosystem.
AMI is led by Yann LeCun, widely recognized as one of the foundational figures behind modern deep learning. He previously founded and led Meta’s Facebook AI Research (FAIR) and has received numerous global honors, including the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering and the ACM Turing Award. The AMI team also includes researchers and engineers from leading technology organizations such as Meta and Google DeepMind.
The lab is developing next-generation “world model” architectures using self-supervised learning and Joint Embedding Predictive Architectures (JEPA). The goal is to build AI systems capable of achieving what the team calls “practical intelligence,” enabling machines to reason about real-world environments and operate effectively in industrial contexts such as robotics and manufacturing.
Through its partnership with AMI, SBVA intends to act as a bridge between global AI research and Asia’s industrial ecosystem. The firm plans to facilitate proof-of-concept initiatives with major corporations and encourage collaboration among its portfolio companies in robotics, manufacturing, and artificial intelligence to accelerate adoption of world model technologies.
KEY QUOTES:
“We are grateful for SBVA’s support and for its commitment to long-term scientific work. It reflects our global vision and ambition and underscores our commitment to building deep partnerships in Korea and across Asia.”
AMI Official
“AMI is a leading pioneer of ‘world model’ AI designed to understand the physical world. As the AI paradigm shifts toward physical AI, we believe this investment represents a pivotal moment to strategically connect the industrial ecosystems of Korea and Asia with next-generation AI technologies.”
JP Lee, CEO of SBVA
