FortyTwoMaru
Category: AI Agents
Agentic AI startup specializing in enterprise AI transformation (AX) with proprietary RAG, MRC, and lightweight LLM technologies. FortyTwoMaru was founded in 2015. The company is led by Kim Dong-hwan. Based in Seoul, South Korea. Team size: 51-100. Latest round: Series B. Key investors include LG유플러스 (LG U+), KDB산업은행 (KDB Bank), IBK기업은행 (IBK Bank), 네이버클라우드 (Naver Cloud), 한글과컴퓨터 (Hancom), 하나증권 (Hana Securities).
- Founded
- 2015
- Headquarters
- Seoul, South Korea
- Team size
- 51-100
Value proposition
Private, secure, and cost-effective enterprise AI deployment with hallucination-controlled agentic AI for industry and public sector.
Products and solutions
RAG42, MRC42, LLM42, SiteBunny, SwingChat
Target customer
Large enterprises and public sector organizations in manufacturing, construction, defense, and government.
Industries served
Manufacturing, Construction, Defense, Public Sector, Finance
Technology advantage
Proprietary deep semantic QA (MRC), hallucination-controlled RAG, and domain-specific lightweight LLMs optimized for private deployment.
How they differentiate
FortyTwoMaru differentiates by focusing on small-scale, rapid success stories for regional AI transformation, combined with proprietary hallucination-controlled RAG, deep semantic QA (MRC), and domain-specific lightweight LLMs optimized for private, secure, and cost-effective enterprise deployment.
Key partnerships
Microsoft, Samsung, LG, SK, Hyundai Motor Group, Shinhan Financial Group
Notable customers
Samsung, LG, SK, Hyundai Motor Group, Shinhan Financial Group
Major milestones
2015: Founded as deep learning AI startup, 2018: Achieved joint 1st place in Stanford SQuAD 2.0 with Google AI, 2020: Won Microsoft GLGE (Generative Language Understanding Evaluation), 2024: Selected for Forbes Korea AI 50, 2026: Celebrated 10th anniversary and declared agentic AI vision, 2026: Won Emerging AI+X Top 100 for 6 consecutive years, 2025: Selected for DIPS 1000+ project, 2026: Received Minister of Science and ICT Commendation for public sector AX achievements
Market positioning
Leading agentic AI platform for Korean enterprise and public sector digital transformation, with a stronghold in the Chungcheong region.
About Kim Dong-hwan
B.S. and M.S. in Computer Engineering from Pusan National University. Former Search Engine Developer and Search Planning Office Director at Empas. Former Search Business Division Head at SK Communications.
Official website: https://www.42maru.ai