- Rising AI adoption drives growing security risks, making AI security essential infrastructure
- End-to-end AI security solutions spanning attack, validation, and control, backed by frontier research and publications
- NAVER D2SF discovered the team through its campus startup competition and invested following incubation, with collaboration opportunities around safe AI expanding
SEONGNAM, South Korea, June 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- NAVER D2SF, NAVER's in-house corporate venture arm, has made a new investment in AIM Intelligence (CEO, Sangyoon Yu), an AI security startup. AIM Intelligence develops AI security technologies that help enterprises adopt AI safely as AI deployment rapidly expands. NAVER D2SF made the investment based on the view that AI security is becoming critical infrastructure in the era of generative AI, agentic AI, multimodal AI, and physical AI.
As AI adoption accelerates across enterprises, new security risks — including AI malfunction, data leakage, privilege abuse, and prompt injection attacks — are increasing just as rapidly. As a result, AI safety validation and control are becoming essential requirements regardless of advances in model performance. Demand is growing among enterprises seeking to establish security frameworks throughout the entire AI lifecycle, from deployment to live operations. AIM Intelligence is meeting this shift head-on, rapidly translating customer requirements into product updates while building a track record of real-world deployments in AI security and safety.
AIM Intelligence provides AI security solutions spanning the full cycle of attack, validation, and control. Its automated red teaming solution, Stinger, proactively identifies vulnerabilities by designing and validating millions of attack scenarios, while its real-time guardrail system, Starfort, controls risky AI behavior during live operations. Drawing on experience contributing to AI model safety projects at global frontier research organizations including OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta, the company is building a field-tested security framework tailored to real-world environments.
AIM Intelligence also brings strong research credentials to the AI security and safety space. The team has published approximately 20 papers on AI guardrails and has validated its technical capabilities through presentations at top-tier academic conferences. Beyond current LLM and agent security, the company is also developing Physical AI safety technology to ensure safety in physical environments such as robotics.
AIM Intelligence is currently building commercial references with enterprise customers across industries including enterprise, financial services, and the public sector. By working closely with customers in live operational environments, the company is refining its AI security and safety solutions while expanding capabilities to address industry-specific compliance requirements.
AIM Intelligence is a team with a well-rounded combination of frontier AI safety research, product development, and business execution. NAVER D2SF discovered the company through its 2024 Campus Startup Competition and participated in this investment following an incubation period. Co-founder and CEO Sangyoon Yu and the founding team bring experience in AI safety research and entrepreneurship, with a particular strength in rapidly sensing shifts in the AI landscape and translating those insights into products.
"AIM Intelligence has rapidly commercialized a practical AI security solution covering the full AI lifecycle, and we are also exploring collaboration opportunities with NAVER's security organization around safe AI initiatives," said Sanghwan Yang, Head of NAVER D2SF. "It is particularly impressive that a student-founded team has achieved this level of execution in the security sector, where experience and references are especially important. We will continue expanding opportunities to connect with AI-native founders in their teens and twenties who bring strong instincts and energy."
"As AI moves beyond productivity tools and into payment platforms, vehicles, and robotics, AI security is becoming part of critical industrial infrastructure," said Sangyoon Yu, CEO of AIM Intelligence. "This strategic investment reflects how AI security is increasingly being recognized as a real business priority across industries. AIM Intelligence aims to grow into an AI security infrastructure company that enables the safe development, validation, and operation of generative AI, agentic AI, and physical AI."
Meanwhile, NAVER D2SF's 2026 Campus Startup Competition recently concluded with a record-high 320+ applicants, including solo founders and high school startup teams, highlighting changing trends in tech entrepreneurship. Development speed and product maturity were notably higher this year, with more teams demonstrating real business traction beyond the idea stage. As AI continues to lower barriers to product development, NAVER D2SF plans to further expand its engagement with AI-native founders who can quickly identify and proactively solve emerging market problems.
About NAVER D2SF
NAVER D2SF is NAVER's in-house corporate venture arm, supporting sustainable growth by collaborating with startups. Founded in 1999, NAVER has maintained its position as Korea's leading search engine for over 20 years and operates across commerce, content, fintech, and cloud services. Under the technological vision of D2 (For Developers, By Developers), NAVER is actively developing new technologies and global partnerships to grow as a leading tech company.
To learn more, visit https://d2sf.naver.com
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NAVER D2SF Invests in AIM Intelligence, an AI Security Startup
In the news release, "The Hashgraph Group and Merck Introduce EU Digital Product Passport on Hedera for Regulated Supply Chains", issued on June 9, 2026 by The Hashgraph Group over PR Newswire, we are advised by the company that they would like to include an image to represent the collaboration. Complete, corrected release follows:
The Hashgraph Group and Merck Introduce EU Digital Product Passport on Hedera for Regulated Supply Chains
Proof of authentication combines quality assurance with end-to-end traceability aiming to comply with incoming EU regulations
ZURICH, June 9, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Hashgraph Group (THG) today announced a strategic collaboration with science and technology company Merck, that extends its TrackTraceDigital Product Passport (DPP) platform. Built on Hedera and designed to support compliance requirements for the global supply chain industry, the collaboration aims to meet the EU's incoming product transparency regulations, ensuring product trust, quality, and improved sustainability. This integration of digital and physical authentication technologies is an initiative enabled through Merck's participation in the Enterprise Accelerator Program of The Hashgraph Association (THA), the Swiss-based non-profit advancing digital enablement, innovation, and education across the Hedera ecosystem.
The technical integration brings together THG's Hedera-powered digital traceability infrastructure with Merck's M-Trust™ physical authentication technology system, offering the global supply chain ecosystem of physical goods a single trust system for proof of quality, proof of traceability, proof of authenticity, and proof of value transfer, all supported digitally by product passport, with Hedera as single source of truth.
Where TrackTrace creates tamper-proof digital records of a product's origin and lifecycle, Merck's M-Trust™ technology adds something digital systems alone cannot deliver: verification that the consumer product in your mouth is the real thing, not a counterfeit.
The integrated solution - already demonstrated in a first working supply chain pilot to be announced soon - is designed to help businesses across any sector prepare for the EU Digital Product Passport and deforestation traceability requirements now taking effect.
Regulation is raising the bar
New EU regulations are tightening up what companies must prove about the products they sell. The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) will require Digital Product Passports via QR code detailing a product's origin, composition, sustainability credentials and lifecycle from 2026 onwards, whereas the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) requires importers of commodities including cocoa, coffee, and timber to provide verified, farm-level traceability data. The collaboration between THG and Merck is designed to support the entire supply value chain in meeting applicable regulatory compliance requirements, with traceability and authentication built into the trust system.
Reliable product traceability also underpins sustainability commitments, ethical sourcing, carbon reporting, and consumer trust. Companies making public promises about where their products come from increasingly need the infrastructure to back those claims with verifiable proof. The consequences of weak traceability are already visible. In 2026, cocoa and food fraud risks have been rising due to high prices and strict new regulations, leading to increased adulteration and fake sourcing documentation. Key frauds include blending low-quality cocoa with fillers like husks, and falsifying deforestation-free certificates to meet the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).
How it works
Merck embeds invisible security markers directly into a product and packaging using patented pigment technology. When scanned with an M-Trust™ handheld device, the product's physical authenticity is confirmed, cryptographically signed, and recorded within TrackTrace on the Hedera network - becoming a permanent, verifiable part of its Digital Product Passport. The result: a chain of proof connecting the actual product to every claim made about it.
TrackTrace complements M-Trust™ by providing real-time tracking of origin, ethical sourcing, and carbon emissions data. TrackTrace also supports quality assurance (QA) data, enabling the capture and integration of product quality metrics directly into the Digital Product Passport. Each instance of tracked process is issued with its own decentralized identifier, acting as an immutable and verifiable record that aggregates all data, credentials, and validations, which allows any authorized third party to independently audit a product, business process, or claim without relying on a central authority, while supporting the automation of reporting processes through integrated Agentic AI.
The combined architecture is built to work across any sector where product authenticity, provenance, and regulatory compliance are non-negotiable – from foods to pharmaceuticals and luxury goods to electronics and industrial components.
"Digital records alone are not sufficient for high-stakes supply chains," said Stefan Deiss, CEO and Co-Founder of The Hashgraph Group. "Enterprises need to prove the physical product is genuine, not just the paperwork. This unique integration with M-Trust covers all layers from the first mile to the last mile – physical authentication through Merck's technology and digital verification through TrackTrace - creating the foundation for trusted Digital Product Passports across any industry."
"Product authentication has always required bridging the physical and digital worlds," said Dr. Thomas Endress, Executive Director, Head of M-Trust in Group Science & Technology Office of Merck. "Integrating M-Trust's verification with TrackTrace's digital traceability creates exactly the kind of end-to-end trust infrastructure that enterprises and regulators are asking for. This is what product authentication looks like when it is built for the scale and complexity of modern supply chains."
Building momentum
The Merck and THG collaboration is the latest in a rapid sequence of milestones for The Hashgraph Group. Since launching its IDTrust self-sovereign identity platform in August 2025, followed by its EcoGuard carbon credit platform in December 2025 - now deployed with government institutions in both India and the Philippines and more recently the launch of its BrandBoost product in May 2026, THG has moved to establish and position Hedera-based infrastructure as a serious option for enterprises and governments navigating complex regulatory environments. With EU Digital Product Passport deadlines approaching and global demand for verifiable supply chain and sustainability data intensifying, THG is positioning its enterprise Web3 suite of products for further integrations and sector-specific deployments throughout 2026, and beyond.
About The Hashgraph Group
The Hashgraph Group (THG) is a Swiss-based Web3 and AI technology engineering company operating within the Hedera ecosystem. Specialized in the design, development, and deployment of enterprise-grade solutions on Hedera, THG is focused on building business without barriers by converging agentic intelligence and workflow automation with decentralization and trusted data infrastructure, enabling sustainable competitive advantage for its clients in the digital economy. For more information about THG, visit www.hashgraph-group.com.
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/C O R R E C T I O N -- The Hashgraph Group/
