Cleared both gates of the program - a completed TIPS R&D grade and an investor recommendation - to accelerate animal behavior AI
Home camera video turns a pet's daily condition into measurable indicators, then connects them to tailored nutrition
LIMPID, an AI company built for animal health, announced on August 5 that it has been selected for Deep Tech TIPS, the private investment-led technology startup program run by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups.
The selection brings LIMPID KRW 1.5 billion in research funding over 36 months through June 2029. The company signed its agreement with TIPA, the administering agency, last month and has begun work on the project.
Deep Tech TIPS matches government research funding to private capital: an investment firm selects and backs a promising startup, and the government adds R&D money on top. Only companies that have run a TIPS R&D project and received a completion rating in the final review may apply, and an operator recommendation and follow-on investment record are also required. LIMPID closed its TIPS R&D project with a completion rating in 2022 and entered the deep tech track this time on the recommendation of The Invention Lab, its seed investor.
The project centers on technology that analyzes a pet's everyday behavior on video and converts changes in health into measurable indicators. Animals tend to hide discomfort, so shifts in behavior such as urination posture, how often they return to the water bowl, or overall activity become the clues that something is wrong.
LIMPID will train its recognition models on its own GPU servers using video data from Petpeotalk, the AI video analytics company it acquired in June. The approach observes the animal with a camera alone, with no device attached to the body.
The company formally launched Kinfora, an AI pet camera service built on this technology, last month. During the project period, LIMPID plans to widen the range of behaviors the system can recognize and raise its accuracy.
Connecting the analysis to nutrition is the other half of the project. As indicators such as activity level and elimination patterns shift, the platform proposes an adjusted nutrition plan. LIMPID will introduce a functional supplement line for gut, skin, and joint health in September.
Heesu Kim, CEO of LIMPID, said, “Deep Tech TIPS is a track you can only enter after both your technical results and your commercial metrics from an earlier project have been verified. Having both recognized, we intend to bring our animal behavior AI to a level that holds up in overseas markets.”
LIMPID was founded in 2020 by veterinarians. The company develops its own video AI models for animal behavior recognition and carries them through to products and clinical validation in-house. Its technology powers Kinfora, an AI behavior analysis and precision nutrition platform, and TrustyFood, a premium freeze-dried pet food brand. With the Korea Racing Authority, LIMPID is preparing Equinfora, a video AI monitoring solution for horses.