[CEOs of Companies Selected for the Bucheon Industry Promotion Agency’s Startup Scale-Up Package] Jiwon Kim, CEO of META MOBILITY

META MOBILITY, Captivating the World with Innovative AI Technology to Secure the ‘Golden Time’ in Electric Vehicle Accidents

-Focusing on ‘Ultra-Early Anomalies’—threat factors in EVs that occur within millionths or ten-millionths of a second

-Developed the ‘ELI care’ anomaly detection device and the ‘ELI connected’ SaaS platform for tracking and analyzing issue data

In the era of future mobility, characterized by electric vehicles (EVs) and autonomous driving, the most critical challenge is not ‘performance’ but ‘safety.’ META MOBILITY is a deep-tech startup born from this philosophy, developing AI technology that predicts risks across the entire electrification system at a pre-accident stage. The company was founded in August 2022 by CEO Jiwon Kim (43).

META MOBILITY focuses on ‘ultra-early anomalies,’ a domain often missed by conventional diagnostic technologies. These are subtle electrical and physical signals occurring in units of millionths or even ten-millionths of a second, serving as the starting points for potential fires, breakdowns, or system malfunctions.

“Electrified mobility, including EVs, is a complex system where the entire battery system—not just the individual cells—operates as an integrated system”, Kim explained. “According to various accident statistics, including those from the Korea Transportation Safety Authority, a significant number of EV fires stem from electrical and mechanical factors within the overall system rather than cell defects themselves.”

To address these issues, META MOBILITY is developing ‘ELI care,’ an anomaly detection device, alongside ‘ELI connected,’ a SaaS platform for tracking and analyzing collected data. ELI care utilizes ultra-high-speed sampling data to capture subtle abnormal signals that are difficult to detect via traditional BMS (Battery Management System) or OBD-based diagnostics. ELI connected then analyzes these signals using multimodal AI to predict risk levels. The solution has successfully completed prototype development.

The efficacy of META MOBILITY’s technology has been validated through real-vehicle demonstrations with the Korea Automotive Technology Institute (KATECH) and the Automotive Convergence Technology Institute (JIAT). The results confirmed that the system reliably detects and analyzes ultra-early abnormal signals—difficult to recognize through conventional methods—thereby securing meaningful predictive capabilities before an accident occurs.

“Most existing battery monitoring solutions focus on detecting ‘precursor symptoms’ immediately before an accident. In such cases, the remaining time before an incident is only a few seconds to tens of minutes,” noted Kim. “In contrast, we deal with ultra-early anomalies that appear much sooner. This allows us to secure a sufficient ‘golden time,’ and as data accumulates, our prediction accuracy continues to improve.”

This technological prowess is gaining rapid international recognition. Following its CES 2026 Innovation Award in January 2026, META MOBILITY also won at the Edison Awards 2026, achieving two prestigious global awards. This achievement is significant as it represents international validation of the integrated predictive safety technology across hardware, AI, and platforms.

Starting this year, META MOBILITY plans to accelerate commercialization. Beginning with revenue generated through paid PoC (Proof of Concept) projects, the company is pursuing business expansion with key customers, including automotive manufacturers, EV/autonomous fleet operators, and AI data center and power infrastructure monitoring firms.

Financially, the company has built a stable foundation for growth. META MOBILITY secured seed investment from TheVentures at its inception and subsequently obtained Pre-Series A funding through the Korea Technology Finance Corporation (KIBO). It has also systematically raised funds for development and commercialization by being selected for TIPS R&D projects and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' Early-stage Startup and Startup Leap Packages. Currently, discussions for additional Pre-Series A investment are underway with overseas VCs and domestic strategic partners.

Regarding future plans, Kim stated, “We focused on R&D for the first three years, and we see this fourth year as the period when global PoCs and revenue will begin in earnest. We are currently achieving all planned milestones without a hitch.”

Date of Establishment: August 2022
Core Business: Mobility Predictive AI
Key Achievements: Secured Seed and Pre-Series A Investment. Selected for IP-Narae Program and TIPS R&D Project. Selected for TIPS Overseas Marketing Support. Graduated from the Early-stage Startup Package with a ‘Top-tier’ evaluation. Selected for the Startup Leap Package (Fast Track). CES 2026 Innovation Award Winner. Edison Awards 2026 Winner. Excellence Award in Startup Incubating Competition. 12 patents registered/pending, 10 trademarks registered. 2 U.S. PCT applications filed, 1 copyright registered.

reporter jinho lee
jinho2323@hankyung.com