NAVER D2SF, the corporate venture capital arm of NAVER, announced an investment in Clone Labs, an AI startup developing technology designed to predict user intent and automate decision-making on behalf of users. The company is building what it describes as a “User Model,” an AI system that records and analyzes users’ computer and agent usage patterns in real time to anticipate next actions and execute them autonomously.
According to NAVER D2SF, the investment decision was driven by Clone Labs’ ability to quickly identify emerging problems tied to the rise of AI agents and aggressively experiment with solutions. Financial terms of the investment were not disclosed.
As AI agents become more common, Clone Labs believes a new productivity bottleneck has emerged around managing those agents. While AI systems can complete tasks rapidly, users are increasingly required to review outputs, provide additional instructions, and continuously intervene in workflows. Clone Labs aims to reduce that “agent management” fatigue by enabling AI systems to better understand user intent and context without constant input.
The company’s User Model is built around three layers: Recording, which captures computer usage patterns; Memory, which stores and analyzes context and user preferences; and Prediction, which forecasts and executes likely next actions. Clone Labs also incorporates a confidence-based gating system that automatically executes actions when confidence levels are high while escalating uncertain or critical decisions back to the user.
Clone Labs recently launched two products, “Clone Desktop” and “Clone Plugin,” which are designed for AI-native users working with multiple AI agents simultaneously.
The startup was founded by undergraduate students from Seoul National University and has published seven research papers related to AI agents, including collaborations with Stanford University and Carnegie Mellon University. The company has also conducted research into computer-use agents, long-term memory systems, and privacy-preserving memory architectures.
Clone Labs was initially discovered through the 2025 NAVER D2SF Campus Startup Competition and received investment three months after entering NAVER D2SF’s incubation program in January 2026.
KEY QUOTES:
“As AI technology advances rapidly, entirely new bottlenecks and market opportunities are emerging alongside it. Clone Labs quickly recognized that productivity is increasingly constrained by the bottleneck between humans and AI agents, and the team is tackling this challenge with strong research expertise and exceptional execution. NAVER D2SF will continue to support founders who identify and experiment on the frontlines of the AI era, while expanding collaboration opportunities with NAVER.”
Sanghwan Yang, Head Of NAVER D2SF
