NAVER D2SF Invests in 23i, a Virtual Entertainment Startup

• 23i brings strong content planning and production capabilities built around multi-persona virtual artists
  
• Internalized virtual content production technologies including real-time motion capture and toon shaders, enabling high-quality, high-frequency content that builds narratives together with fandoms
• NAVER D2SF continues to invest across the full spectrum of virtual technologies, exploring potential collaboration opportunities as the global virtual entertainment market grows

SEONGNAM-SI, South Korea, July 9, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- NAVER D2SF, the corporate venture capital arm of NAVER, has made a new investment in 23i (CEO, Hyungmin Kim), a virtual entertainment startup. As the global virtual entertainment market continues to grow rapidly, particularly in Korea and Japan, NAVER D2SF decided to invest in the team based on its ability to create expanded entertainment IP through strong content production capabilities and an in-house technology pipeline designed to maximize the strengths of virtual artists.

For virtual artists to build lasting fandoms, they need to deliver high-quality content at a high frequency, vividly expressing their talent and personality while offering fresh fan experiences enabled by technology. To address this, 23i has developed its own virtual UX technologies, including real-time motion capture, toon shaders, quadrupedal and flying motion control systems. The company has also built an efficient production workflow that enables a small team to rapidly plan and produce new content.

Based on a deep understanding of the entertainment industry and fandom culture, 23i is developing differentiated content and narratives. Its virtual boy group WE GO-6, unveiled last year, is built around the original concept of a "multi-persona idol," where each member expresses a distinct persona. Through this approach, the company is expanding the storytelling potential of virtual artists while deepening communication with fans.

"With this investment, we plan to strengthen our content production infrastructure and deliver content with an even higher level of quality," said Hyungmin Kim, CEO of 23i. "By building our own technology, we aim to create fan-participatory content that has not been possible in the traditional entertainment industry."

"Virtual entertainment is a market with strong growth potential, going beyond technical implementation to enable artists and fandoms to communicate in entirely new ways," said Sanghwan Yang, Head of NAVER D2SF. "23i is a team boldly challenging the scalability of the virtual industry, backed by groundbreaking content planning and an excellent production workflow." He added, "As NAVER D2SF has continued to invest across the full spectrum of virtual technologies, we will also explore potential collaboration opportunities with NAVER's entertainment businesses and related teams such as Motion Stage."

NAVER D2SF has consistently invested across the virtual content technology stack, including 3D engines and data, motion capture, and the creation and operation of virtual character IP. Going forward, NAVER D2SF plans to continue discovering and supporting technology startups creating new possibilities in the virtual content market.

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 D2SF, NAVER is actively developing new technologies and global partnerships to grow as a leading tech company.

To learn more, visit https://d2sf.naver.com

 

SEONGNAM-SI, South Korea, July 9, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- NAVER D2SF, the corporate venture capital arm of NAVER, has made a new investment in 23i (CEO, Hyungmin Kim), a virtual entertainment startup. As the global virtual entertainment market continues to grow rapidly, particularly in Korea and Japan, NAVER D2SF decided to invest in the team based on its ability to create expanded entertainment IP through strong content production capabilities and an in-house technology pipeline designed to maximize the strengths of virtual artists.

For virtual artists to build lasting fandoms, they need to deliver high-quality content at a high frequency, vividly expressing their talent and personality while offering fresh fan experiences enabled by technology. To address this, 23i has developed its own virtual UX technologies, including real-time motion capture, toon shaders, quadrupedal and flying motion control systems. The company has also built an efficient production workflow that enables a small team to rapidly plan and produce new content.

Based on a deep understanding of the entertainment industry and fandom culture, 23i is developing differentiated content and narratives. Its virtual boy group WE GO-6, unveiled last year, is built around the original concept of a "multi-persona idol," where each member expresses a distinct persona. Through this approach, the company is expanding the storytelling potential of virtual artists while deepening communication with fans.

"With this investment, we plan to strengthen our content production infrastructure and deliver content with an even higher level of quality," said Hyungmin Kim, CEO of 23i. "By building our own technology, we aim to create fan-participatory content that has not been possible in the traditional entertainment industry."

"Virtual entertainment is a market with strong growth potential, going beyond technical implementation to enable artists and fandoms to communicate in entirely new ways," said Sanghwan Yang, Head of NAVER D2SF. "23i is a team boldly challenging the scalability of the virtual industry, backed by groundbreaking content planning and an excellent production workflow." He added, "As NAVER D2SF has continued to invest across the full spectrum of virtual technologies, we will also explore potential collaboration opportunities with NAVER's entertainment businesses and related teams such as Motion Stage."

NAVER D2SF has consistently invested across the virtual content technology stack, including 3D engines and data, motion capture, and the creation and operation of virtual character IP. Going forward, NAVER D2SF plans to continue discovering and supporting technology startups creating new possibilities in the virtual content market.

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 D2SF, 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 23i, a Virtual Entertainment Startup

New integration connects institutional algos, block trading and retail distribution to Kalshi's prediction and perpetual markets

NEW YORK, July 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Talos, the premier provider of institutional digital asset infrastructure, technology and data supporting the full investment lifecycle, today announced an integration with Kalshi, the next-generation financial exchange. Using the same Talos interface used to trade digital assets today, select institutional clients will be able to trade Kalshi's event contracts and crypto perpetuals with no separate integration required.

Prediction markets and US-onshore perpetuals are emerging as important institutional markets and require institutional-grade tools to support participation. Kalshi's regulated clearing structure gives institutions a similar framework they use in traditional options and futures markets. Talos is launching two major capabilities to bring familiar tooling to their workflows. 

For on-exchange trading, clients such as market makers and hedge funds have access to the Talos algo trading suite, including Iceberg, Pegged, Sniper, TWAP and POV, designed to work orders while minimizing market impact. Talos's multi-leg execution suite extends this to spread trading: clients can construct perp-to-perp and perp-to-spot spreads within a single order, supporting basis and funding-rate arbitrage strategies as onshore perpetuals scale. Talos intends to support prediction-market-to-perpetual multi-leg spreads in the future.

In parallel, the Talos RFQ (request-for-quote) platform, the same system Talos's ETF issuer clients use for create/redeem workflows, will provide a block trading interface for trading large sizes off-exchange, connecting to Talos's network of OTC liquidity providers.

"As institutional interest in prediction markets accelerates, Kalshi's regulatory standing as a CFTC-regulated exchange makes it a natural venue for that demand," said Andy Ross, Head of Institutional at Kalshi. "Working with Talos gives our institutional buy-side and sell-side participants a path to Kalshi that fits inside the infrastructure they already run."

"Kalshi has established a regulated structure to unlock US institutional participation in perpetuals and prediction markets," said Anton Katz, CEO and Co-founder of Talos. "Trading is moving to 24/7, prediction use cases are growing rapidly, and every asset class is migrating to digital rails. We believe these trends will fundamentally change how risk is priced, hedged and settled across the market, and Talos is building for that future."

Cantor, the global investment bank within the Cantor Fitzgerald group of companies, advised Talos on aspects of the build-out of its institutional prediction markets functionality. "Prediction markets are emerging into a credible institutional asset class, and firms that engage early will help shape the market structure, liquidity and execution standards that underpin its growth. Cantor looks forward to working closely with Talos to advance institutional access to prediction markets," said Matt DeCicco, Managing Director, Head of Digital Assets for Global Markets at Cantor.

Beyond institutional trading, Talos plans to extend its dealer software solution enabling brokers and trading platforms to offer Kalshi event contracts directly to their own end customers, depending on jurisdiction, later this year.

Talos also plans to offer a harmonized market data feed across prediction market venues, unifying events, trades, order books, open interest and implied probabilities under a single schema. Since venues represent binary outcomes differently, including Kalshi's single market with two sides against other venues' separate outcome tokens, comparing data across platforms today typically requires reconciling formats. Talos's prediction markets data will be delivered through the same API clients already use for crypto market data. Talos anticipates Kalshi will be among the first venues supported.

About Talos

Talos provides institutional-grade technology and data that supports the full digital asset investment lifecycle, including liquidity sourcing, price discovery, trading, settlement and portfolio management. Engineered by a team with unmatched experience building institutional trading, portfolio and data systems, the Talos platform connects institutions to key providers in the digital asset ecosystem — exchanges, OTC desks, prime brokers, lenders, custodians and more — through a single interface. For more information, visit www.talos.com.

Talos Disclaimer: Talos offers software-as-a-service products that provide connectivity tools for institutional clients. Talos does not provide clients with any pre-negotiated arrangements with liquidity providers or other parties. Clients are required to independently negotiate arrangements with liquidity providers and other parties bilaterally. Talos is not party to any of these arrangements. Services and venues may not be available in all jurisdictions.

About Kalshi

Founded in 2018, Kalshi is the world's next-generation financial exchange. Prediction markets provide accurate, real-time information on the likelihood of events, making humanity more informed about the future. As the first regulated exchange for events, Kalshi is credited with legalizing and establishing prediction markets as a financial asset class. It's the leading safe and regulated platform, trusted by millions of people and a growing number of institutions in America. To learn more about Kalshi, visit www.kalshi.com.

Media contact

media@talos.com

 

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Talos Brings Prediction Markets Onto Institutional Trading Infrastructure