NearthLab: The Drone Startup That Inspected Wind Turbines — Now Targeting the Global Battlefield [Rising Stars of K-Defense]

[Korea Financial Times, Shin Haeju] As the South Korean government announced plans to foster "defense innovation startups" capable of driving military requirements with cutting-edge civilian technology, domestic drone solutions company NearthLab is drawing attention as a rising force poised to lead global defense tech.

NearthLab delivered tangible results in the defense sector last year, solidifying its position in the industry. Until 2024, approximately 80% of its revenue came from safety inspection services, with defense accounting for just 20%. However, a large-scale export deal to the Middle East in 2025 dramatically shifted that ratio. Notably, a single contract signed with a Middle Eastern country last year was valued at USD 10 million (approximately KRW 14.9 billion), demonstrating the company's competitiveness in the global market.

'Vision AI' Proven in Safety Inspections Evolves into Military-Grade Drones

NearthLab's leap forward is grounded in its proprietary "Vision AI" technology, refined through years of deployment at industrial sites. Vision AI is the core component of NearthLab's physical AI system, "Aerial Intelligence." The technology enables AI to analyze real-time video feeds from drone-mounted cameras, recognize surrounding terrain and objects, and determine both the drone's own position and that of its target.

The system calculates the optimal flight path to a target and automatically avoids obstacles encountered mid-flight. Leveraging this capability, NearthLab drones can detect micro-cracks as small as a millimeter and track drones flying at speeds exceeding 150 km/h.

For wind turbine inspections, the system completes a full inspection of a single turbine in under 15 minutes, provides data access within one day, and delivers an expert diagnostic report within a week. NearthLab's digital twin solution platform, Zoomable, reconstructs wind turbine blades in virtual space, enabling systematic tracking and management of defect locations, severity, and year-over-year progression trends.

Zoomable digitizes what was once a manual inspection process, analyzing the progression of individual defects to support predictive maintenance. By assessing risk levels based on defect severity, it helps prevent both under-maintenance and over-maintenance, contributing to more efficient turbine operations.


In the safety inspection segment, NearthLab has secured cooperation agreements and supply contracts with major domestic and global clients, including Korea Southern Power, Korea Midland Power, and Korea East-West Power — all state-owned power generation companies — as well as Germany- and Spain-based wind turbine manufacturer Siemens Gamesa, Denmark-based wind turbine manufacturer Vestas, U.S. energy company GE, UK-based wind data analytics firm Onyx Insight, Japanese IT and investment conglomerate SoftBank, and Germany's largest power utility RWE.

These technologies are now being extended to the battlefield. KAiDEN, NearthLab's flagship counter-drone defense solution, is an autonomous interceptor drone capable of neutralizing hostile unmanned aerial vehicles within a critical response window by flying at speeds exceeding 250 km/h. Equipped with Vision AI for precision targeting, KAiDEN is designed to operate across both ground and airborne mission profiles.

XAiDEN, a swarm kamikaze drone, is also regarded as a key weapon system in modern warfare. Built on a swarm control system in which multiple drones cooperate organically, XAiDEN is capable of stable mission execution even in high-risk environments where communications and GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) are jammed. A command drone designates the target, while strike drones identify, track, and destroy moving targets in real time — an operational concept that has already been validated through combat experiments conducted by the South Korean military.

KRW 65 Billion in Cumulative Investment Secured — Global Expansion in Full Swing

Since its founding in 2015, NearthLab has posted revenue growth of more than twofold every year. Having completed its Series D2 funding round — its final external investment round — the company has raised a cumulative total of KRW 65 billion.

Building on this foundation, NearthLab is currently in active discussions with lead managers and investors in pursuit of a KOSDAQ listing within this year. Following the listing, the company plans to direct proceeds from the public offering toward technology advancement and the reinforcement of its global sales network across North America and Europe.


The company is led by CEO Choi Jae-hyuk and CTO Jeong Young-seok, both alumni of the Korea Science Academy and graduates of the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), where they completed their undergraduate and master's degrees together.

CEO Choi previously worked as a digital transformation engineer for power plant operations at Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction (now Doosan Enerbility), while CTO Jeong honed his expertise as a flight control software engineer at Satrec Initiative, South Korea's only satellite system export company. The two co-founded NearthLab in 2015.

"We plan to actively invest in overseas business expansion following the listing," a NearthLab official said. "As we are already operating in key global markets including North America and Europe, we will continue to strengthen local partnerships and our sales network to broaden our footprint in the global market."

Shin Haeju (hjs0509@fntimes.com)