SBVA and AMI Labs Successfully Conclude 'ICML 2026 Mixer'

SBVA (formerly SoftBank Ventures) announced on the 10th that it had successfully concluded the 'ICML 2026 Mixer,' which was co-hosted with the global frontier lab, AMI Labs.

Joonpyo Lee, CEO of SBVA (right), and Alexandre Lebrun, CEO of AMI Labs (left), are speaking at the "ICML 2026 Mixer" held on the 9th at Devil's Door COEX branch in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Photo by SBVA

The event, which took place the previous day at Devil's Door COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, was attended by approximately 300 AI researchers, entrepreneurs, and corporate representatives from Korea and abroad, including the co-founders and AI researchers of AMI Labs, as well as the SBVA investment team. Participants discussed next-generation AI technologies and the future of the industry, while exploring various opportunities for collaboration. Key members from AMI Labs in attendance included co-founder and CEO Alexandre Lebrun, COO Laurent Solly, CSO Saining Xie, CRIO Pascal Fung, and VP of World Model Mike Rabbat.

The event was organized to coincide with Korea's hosting of ICML 2026, one of the world's top three artificial intelligence conferences. ICML was held in Korea for the first time this year, with around 15,000 AI researchers and corporate representatives participating.

AMI Labs is a global AI research company co-founded by renowned AI scholar Professor Yann LeCun. The company is developing a world model that learns from the real world and predicts the outcomes of actions, aiming to realize trustworthy and controllable AI. In March, SBVA invested approximately 50 billion won (30 million euros) in AMI Labs' seed round.

Prior to the event, SBVA also held a separate group meeting with AMI Labs and its domestic AI and robotics portfolio companies. The session introduced the technological competitiveness and global market potential of Korean AI startups and discussed possible areas of cooperation with AMI Labs.

Junpyo Lee, CEO of SBVA, stated, "In the AI industry, the ecosystem that connects global researchers, companies, and investors is becoming just as important as outstanding technology. SBVA will continue to actively support Korean AI entrepreneurs and researchers so they can connect with world-class technical communities and create global cooperation and business opportunities."

Alexandre Lebrun, CEO of AMI Labs, commented, "Korea is a market with world-class industrial competitiveness, outstanding technical talent, and a clear long-term vision for AI. It was meaningful to directly meet Korea's excellent AI researchers and entrepreneurs through SBVA, share ideas, and explore the potential for future collaboration in next-generation AI."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.