Overview
RLWRLD is a Seoul-based physical AI company developing robotics foundation models trained directly in real industrial environments. Founded in 2024 by CEO Junghee Ryu (previously founded Olaworks, acquired by Intel in Intel's first Korean startup acquisition), RLWRLD trains its models using multimodal data from live factories, warehouses, and service settings rather than controlled labs. Its flagship product is RLDX-1, a dexterity-first foundation model for robot hands built on the NVIDIA ecosystem, unveiled at NVIDIA GTC Taipei 2026.
Verified record
- Verified deployments
- None on file
- Active incidents
- None on file
DEPLOY Intelligence
Market intelligence for physical AI
Analyst-grade signals, competitive tracking, and investment context across the global physical AI landscape. Launching 2026.
Key facts
CEO
Junghee Ryu (founder; previously founded Olaworks, acquired by Intel)
Chief Scientist
Jinwoo Shin (KAIST Chair Professor)
Funding
~$41M total seed ($14.8M Seed 1 Apr 2025 led by Hashed; $26M Seed 2 Feb 2026 with Headline Asia, Z Venture Capital)
Product
RLDX-1 dexterity-first foundation model for robot hands (unveiled May 2026 at NVIDIA GTC Taipei)
Partners
CJ Logistics, Lotte — PoC and robotics transformation (RX) projects in logistics, retail, service
Technology
Multi-Stream Action Transformer (MSAT) architecture; NVIDIA Isaac GR00T/Lab/Sim stack; H100/A100 training, Jetson AGX Thor/Orin edge
Investors
Headline Asia, Z Venture Capital (LY Corp), Hashed Ventures, CJ Logistics, Kakao Investment, Lotte Ventures, Hanwha Asset Management, Mirae Asset-Emart Fund, Hyosung Ventures, Smilegate Investment, T Investment, LG Electronics, SK Telecom, KDDI, ANA Holdings, Mitsui Chemicals, Shimadzu, Global Brain, FuturePlay
Financial stage
Early (seed-stage, ~$41M raised)
Data & sources
Press releases
1
News coverage
1
Web sources
2
4 sources backing this record.View all →
RLWRLD on the deployment map
Where RLWRLD's robots are verified operating. Explore the deployment map by place and type.
Relationships
Current leadership (2)
- Junghee Ryu Founder & CEOSEC-verified
- Jinwoo Shin Chief Scientist & KAIST Chair ProfessorSEC-verified
Founders (1)
- Junghee Ryuno longer at company
Safety record
No incidents on record for RLWRLD.
Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.
Full safety record: incidents, sourcing, and exposure data →
Recent coverage
RLWRLD in third-party press
Funding rounds (2)
- Seed 22026-02-25
$26M(reported)
Investors: Smilegate Investment, T Investment, Headline Asia (lead), Z Venture Capital (lead), Hashed Ventures, CJ Logistics, Kakao Investment, Lotte Ventures, Hanwha Asset Management, Mirae Asset-Emart Investment Fund, Hyosung Ventures
- Seed2025-04-14
$15M(reported)
Investors: Hashed Ventures (lead), LG Electronics, SK Telecom, KDDI Corporation, ANA Holdings, Mitsui Chemicals, Shimadzu Corporation, Mirae Asset, Global Brain, FuturePlay
Sources (4)
- RLWRLD Raises $26M Seed 2, Bringing Total Funding to $41M · https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/02/26/3245146/0/en/rlwrld-raises-26m-seed-2-bringing-total-funding-to-41m-to-scale-industrial-robotics-ai.html
- https://www.therobotreport.com/physical-ai-startup-rlwrld-raises-26m/
- RLWRLD Official Website · https://www.rlwrld.ai/en
- RLWRLD Raises $15M to Build 'GPT for Robots' · https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rlwrld-raises-15m-to-build-gpt-for-robots-backed-by-asias-industrial-giants-302427574.html
Common questions
- What is RLWRLD?
- RLWRLD is a Seoul-based physical AI company developing robotics foundation models trained directly in real industrial environments. Founded in 2024 by CEO Junghee Ryu (previously founded Olaworks, acquired by Intel in Intel's first Korean startup acquisition), RLWRLD trains its models using multimodal data from live factories, warehouses, and service settings rather than controlled labs. Its flagship product is RLDX-1, a dexterity-first foundation model for robot hands built on the NVIDIA ecosystem, unveiled at NVIDIA GTC Taipei 2026.
- What does RLWRLD make?
- RLWRLD has 1 robot model on the DEPLOY registry: RLDX-1 (RLWRLD builds robot foundation models or autonomy software).
- Is RLWRLD publicly traded?
- RLWRLD is not independently listed on public markets; it is part of Intel on the DEPLOY registry.
- Who is the CEO of RLWRLD?
- Junghee Ryu is the ceo of RLWRLD, per the DEPLOY registry.
- How can I invest in RLWRLD?
- RLWRLD has no separately traded stock; it is owned by Intel (the parent is the entity that trades, where it is public).
- Where is RLWRLD headquartered?
- RLWRLD is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea.
- Who owns RLWRLD?
- RLWRLD is owned by Intel, per the DEPLOY registry.
- Where does RLWRLD operate robots?
- RLWRLD is a robot manufacturer and does not directly operate deployments on the DEPLOY registry. Its products are deployed by customer operators; see the company page for the verified deployment record.
- Is RLWRLD a top robotics company?
- On DEPLOY's intelligence score, which blends verified deployments, funding, hiring, media, safety, and IP signals, RLWRLD ranks in roughly the top 7% of companies tracked by the registry.
- When was RLWRLD founded?
- RLWRLD was founded in 2024.
- Is RLWRLD safe?
- RLWRLD has no incidents on record in the DEPLOY registry. This does not constitute a safety guarantee; it reflects the incidents DEPLOY has tracked and verified to date.
Methodology: Verified · 4 sources (1 primary) · last reviewed 2026-07-16
Verification posture
Verified
High confidence
Review state
Stable
Last reviewed 2026-07-16
Sources by quality tier
- 2
- unclassified
- Unclassified source
- 1
- secondary-trade-publication
- Trade publication
- 1
- primary-company-ir
- Company IR disclosure
The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.
Methodology surface for RLWRLD.In the press
Recent coverage mentioning RLWRLD from third-party publications. Automatically surfaced; not part of the verified registry record.
RLWRLD Debuts Robotics Foundation Model 'RLDX-1' at NVIDIA GTC Taipei 2026
RLWRLD showcases RLDX-1 at NVIDIA GTC Taipei 2026, scoring 70.6 on RoboCasa Kitchen with ~20% of the training compute used by NVIDIA GR00T N1.5, built on the NVIDIA Isaac…
RLWRLD and the Race to Solve Dexterous AI🖖
Motion awareness, memory, touch, and real-world manipulation are becoming the next frontier for robotics foundation models.
RLWRLD releases RLDX-1, a dexterity-first foundation model for robot hands
RLWRLD unveils RLDX-1, a dexterity-first foundation model built on a Multi-Stream Action Transformer architecture for high-DoF robotic hands, achieving SOTA results across eight…
Physical AI startup RLWRLD raises $26M
RLWRLD raises $26M in Seed 2 funding, training its robotics foundation models directly in live industrial environments with CJ Logistics and Lotte as deployment partners.
RLWRLD Raises $26M Seed 2, Bringing Total Funding to $41M to Scale Industrial Robotics AI
RLWRLD closes $26M Seed 2 round led by Headline Asia and Z Venture Capital, with strategic investors CJ Logistics, Kakao Investment, and Lotte Ventures, bringing total seed…
RLWRLD Raises $15M to Build 'GPT for Robots,' Backed by Asia's Industrial Giants
RLWRLD announces $15M seed round backed by LG Electronics, SK Telecom, KDDI, ANA Holdings, Mitsui Chemicals, and Shimadzu, with AI-focused VCs Hashed, Mirae Asset, and Global…
Physical AI startup RLWRLD brings in $15M
RLWRLD raises $15M seed funding backed by Korean and Japanese industrial leaders including LG, SK, KDDI, and ANA, with founder Junghee Ryu whose previous company Olaworks was…
Machine-readable surfaces
- Markdown mirror: /companies/rlwrld.md
- RSS feed: /companies/rlwrld/feed.xml
- JSON-LD: embedded in this page’s head
- REST API: /v1/companies/78cd2914-f14c-40f7-a046-d8537c7ad5ba
- Revision history: /companies/rlwrld/history
- Data documentation: /data
- Query this programmatically: Deploy MCP
Video
Our brand film is a declaration of what RLWRLD stands for. It captures the essence of our journey—building robots that merge extraordinary dexterity with true i
We will be presenting various demos that showcase hand dexterity
If you ask what defines the future of humanoids, the answer is ultimately dexterity. That's where the real edge in Physical AI is determined. And that's what w
Two Robots pack and sort together coordinating in real time, no human in the loop. Powered by RLDX-1, RLWRLD's dexterity-first foundation model for robot hands
Join the RLDX-1 Launch List 👉 https://rlwrld.github.io/launch-list/ The human hand is the most sophisticated tool ever created. What if AI could finally unde
75% of factories are already automated. The last 25%, the part that still needs a human hand, is where every robot gets stuck. At RLWRLD's Dexterity Night in S
Where Physical AI meets real world deployment. RLWRLD won First Prize at the Nebius Robotics & Physical AI Awards in the Foundation Model category, selected f
On May 13, 2026, RLWRLD hosted Dexterity Night at the Exploratorium in San Francisco featuring the first public unveiling of RLDX-1, our robotics foundation mod
Silicon Valley keeps getting younger. The founders getting all the attention are barely out of their twenties. Junghee Ryu, a 52-year-old serial entrepreneur,
A practical, page-by-page walkthrough of the RLDX-1 model suite — which model to start from, how much data and compute you actually need, and how to customize a
RLWRLD raises $14 8M to build a foundational model for robotics #shorts #techtech #rlwrld
Reality vs attention
RLWRLD draws attention at the 82nd percentile but verifies reality at the insufficient-data level among other robots.
Analysis
Active fundraising activity with a recent closing. Limited public visibility and press coverage relative to peers.
Dimension breakdown
Verified signal
Attention (reach, not merit)
DEPLOY Intelligence scores are computed from verified registry data: confirmed deployments, disclosed funding rounds, regulatory filings, active job listings, video viewership, and press coverage. Confidence ratings reflect data availability. Scores update nightly.
DEPLOY Indices — verified vs claimed
Last computed: Jul 17, 2026