Best Chemicals and Materials Tech Companies in South Korea
The 69 best Chemicals and Materials Tech companies in South Korea in 2026, ranked by funding and momentum. Funding, investors, founders, valuation, tech stack and live signals. Top: G-Smatt Global.
Our analysis of 50 Chemicals and Materials Tech companies
$4.4b in tracked funding; 79% of the stack-profiled cohort runs cloud-native; funding activity peaked in 2025.
Ranked: Best Chemicals and Materials Tech companies in South Korea
| # | Company | Disclosed funding | Last round | Stage | Founder | Founded | Tech stack | Patents & IP focus | Recent signals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | G-Smatt Global Provides LED embedded glass products and technology for display | $11M | 111 mo ago | Deadpooled | Lee Sung CEO | 2000 | — | 84 patents Transparent laminated-glass displays and related flexible circuitry, coatings, and assembly methods | — |
| 2 | Mycell Provider of mycelium-based leather fabric | $10M | 46 mo ago | Seed | — | 2019 | GnuboardMySQLPHP+14 | — | — |
| 3 | BESTGRAPHENE Manufacture of graphene | $6M | 35 mo ago | Series A | Seongmin Chin CEO | 2020 | — | 23 patents Graphene hybrid composites for batteries, EMI shielding, and functional coating applications | — |
| 4 | Ntrium Nanocoatings for use in manufacturing and packaging of electronic devices | $3M | 138 mo ago | Funding Raised | Se Jeong Founder & CEO | 2013 | — | 73 patents Battery safety films and high‑heat‑dissipating pastes for lithium‑ion cells | — |
| 5 | IDK Lab Developer of colorimetric gas sensing platforms for industrial environments | $3M | 51 mo ago | Series A | Hwang Won-Tae CEO | 2019 | — | — | — |
| 6 | Impressivo Provider of smart clothing | $100K | 75 mo ago | Series A | David Ahn Founder | 2015 | — | — | — |
| 7 | Zetrone Developer of bioprocessing technology using plasma and synthetic biology with AI | — | 8 mo ago | Seed | Jo In-jin Founder & CEO | 2025 | — | — | — |
| 8 | Sollum New Materials Provider of innovative solutions based on advanced materials | — | 24 mo ago | Series A | Jeong Hyo-tae CEO | 2016 | — | — | — |
Top 12 Chemicals and Materials Tech companies in South Korea
#1
Series A · Seongnam, Gyeonggi-do · founded 2020 · 9 employees$6.1Mraised▾
Manufacture of graphene. It provides chemically modified and functionalized graphene technology. The company offers products such as graphene colloid, graphene ink and paste, additive graphene, and customized graphene total solution. It can be used in conductivity and multi-functionality systems.
- Jul 2023Series A$6.1M
- Seed—
#2
Seed · Gunpo si, Gyeonggi do · founded 2019 · 31 employees$10Mraised▾
Provider of mycelium-based leather fabric. It offers vegan leather fabric that can be used in the manufacturing of sneakers, apparel, handbags, and wallets. The fabric can also be used in the production of phone covers, keychains, and home decor products.
- Aug 2022Seed$10M
#3
Deadpooled · Seoul, Seoul · founded 2000$11.2Mraised▾
G-Smatt Global develops smart glasses with LED lights embedded in between glass layers is such a manner that the LEDs and the circuit remain invisible during the operation. The company uses different types of coatings to impart additional functionalities like UV protection, solar power generation etc to the glass. Their products have applications in markets like retail, advertisement and construction.
- Mar 2017Post IPO$6.9M
- Dec 2016Post IPO$4.3M
#4
Series A · Yuseong District, Hoseo · founded 2019 · 10 employees$2.9Mraised▾
Developer of colorimetric gas sensing platforms for industrial environments. The company specializes in ultra-low concentration gas detection for semiconductor manufacturing and industrial safety. Its sensing platform integrates material engineering, optical design, and multi-channel monitoring architecture. The company's core technology is a chemical-reaction-based sensing enabling direct visual and quantitative gas detection.
- Mar 2022Series A$2.9M
#5
Funding Raised · Hwaseong, Gyeonggi do · founded 2013 · 30 employees$2.9Mraised▾
Nitrium provides nanocoatings for use in manufacturing and packaging of electronic devices. Products include EMI shielding and thermally enhanced materials for packaging, thermal interface material for mobile chipsets, conductive coatings, silver powder coatings for printed electronics. Additionally, the company also provides customised nanomaterials, and licencing and technology transfer services.
- Dec 2014Conventional Debt$2.9M
#6
Series A · Seoul, Seoul · founded 2015 · 5 employees$100Kraised▾
Impressivo Inc provides sensors into the garments to build touch and gesture sensitive areas. The company is using resistive sensors instead of capacitive sensors which allows capturing multiple interactions at the same time.
- Mar 2020Series A—
- Jul 2018Seed$100K
#7
Seed · Hwaseong, Gyeonggi do · founded 2025—raised▾
Developer of bioprocessing technology using plasma and synthetic biology with AI. It focuses on overcoming energy barriers in biochemical reactions. The technology uses data-driven AI for platform self-improvement. It addresses limitations of raw material supply by utilizing resources like carbon dioxide and waste biomass. The technology enhances reaction speeds in microbial processes. This approach aims to reduce production costs for biochemical products.
- Oct 2025Seed—
#8
Series A · Gangneung si, Gangwon Province · founded 2016—raised▾
Provider of innovative solutions based on advanced materials. It provides users with a company specializes in advanced materials and innovative solutions, particularly in the fields of electronics and battery manufacturing.
- 2024Series A—
#9
Seed · Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do · founded 2019—raised▾
Eco-friendly protective coating. It develops nanotechnology-based coating for protection Radon. It also prevents other hazardous subtsances.
- Feb 2024Seed—
#10
Series B · Yongin si, Gyeonggi do · founded 2012—raised▾
Provider of full-service legal counsel to domestic and international clients. This firm offers legal services and solutions across various practice areas, including corporate law, commercial law, intellectual property, and litigation. The firm assists businesses and individuals with a wide array of legal matters, from company formation and mergers and acquisitions to employment disputes and family law. Legal advice is tailored to meet specific client needs, focusing on achieving successful outcomes. The firm's lawyers possess extensive experience and expertise in their respective fields.
- Feb 2023Series B—
- Aug 2015Series A—
#11
Seed · Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do · founded 2015 · 3 employees—raised▾
Developer of smart textiles with bioelectric components and provider of surface modification services. The company uses coating technology (textile sensor material, stretchable material), development of bioelectric components and materials (slide glass for DNA chip, slide glass for protein chip, substrates for biosensors), and also provides surface modification services (hydrophilic, hydrophobic, thin-film deposition, self-assembled monolayer).
- Oct 2021Seed—
#12
Public · Siheung si, Gyeonggi do · founded 1981 · 299 employees—raised▾
Manufacturer of electronic materials for automotive industry. It is involved in manufacturing electronic and battery materrials like conductive paste, conductive powder, phosphor, silicon anode, polymer, and others for automotive industry.
Funding & investor landscape
Notable founders
Market landscape — 10 sub-themes by coverage
Share of Chemicals and Materials Tech coverage by sub-theme.
Regulatory-risk over time rising
Funding & growth over time
funding rising · growth rising
How research on Advanced Materials is moving in South Korea
A read on the academic research around Advanced Materials — which themes are gaining ground, the institutions and researchers driving them, and how the tone is shifting. Based on 412 South Korea-affiliated papers.
- Inha University71
- Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology44
- Ministry of Education37
- Seoul National University28
- Sungkyunkwan University25
- Smart material14→36
- Actuator9→23
- Nanotechnology6→16
- Elastomer2→11
- Self-healing hydrogels1→9
- Nanotechnology2→9
- Nanomaterials1→7
- Flexibility (engineering)1→6
- Smart material24→27
- Graphene1→4
- Smart material6
- Nanotechnology6
- Key (lock)3
- Actuator3
- Biomimetic materials2
Where advanced materials is researched across South Korea
Location clusters by institution affiliation — each city's volume, stance tone, and a quick read on its hot topic, what's advancing, the opening opportunity, and the main concern.
Who's filing advanced materials patents in South Korea
South Korea advanced materials patent filing is accelerating — 41,701 filings from 8,000 assignees (2016–2025), led by Samsung, Posco, Hyundai; annual filings 3234→5075.
- Samsung12795
- Posco11011
- Hyundai3829
- LG Chemical2203
- Korea INST SCI & TECH1211
- Korea Advanced INST SCI & TECH1180
- UNIV Korea RES & BUS Found801
- Korea INST Ceramic ENG & TECH687
Common questions
Rohit lives in the feed. He covers what's moving right now — the funding rounds, launches and shifts breaking across the trade press — and ties them back to where the sector is heading.