Seoul's Datumo Raises $15.5M Series B to Challenge Scale AI with AI Safety Focus

Korean AI startup Datumo has secured $15.5 million in Series B funding led by Salesforce Ventures, marking the software giant's first investment in a South Korean AI company. The round brings Datumo's total funding to approximately $28 million as it positions itself as a competitor to Scale AI in the lucrative AI training data market.

Founded in 2018 as a data labeling company, Datumo has evolved into a comprehensive AI safety platform serving major Korean enterprises, including Samsung, LG Electronics, Hyundai, and SK Telecom. The company's flagship product, Datumo Eval, offers automated AI model evaluation without requiring technical expertise—addressing a critical gap, as only 17% of organizations actively tackle AI explainability risks despite 40% viewing it as significant.

CEO David Kim, a Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia alum and former defense AI researcher, differentiates Datumo through its licensed book datasets and no-code evaluation tools designed for compliance and policy teams. The startup also provides unique structured human reasoning data that's notoriously difficult to clean.

The timing is strategic, following Meta's $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI and OpenAI's subsequent departure from Scale's services. Datumo will use the funding to accelerate R&D and expand globally across South Korea, Japan, and the US market.