NAVER LABS Europe
Category: Robotics / Embodied AI
NAVER LABS Europe is the Grenoble, France-based AI & robotics research lab of South Korean internet giant NAVER Corporation (formerly Xerox Research Centre Europe), focused on AI for robotics, computer vision, NLP and foundation models. NAVER LABS Europe was founded in 2017. The company is led by SangOk Seok (NAVER LABS Corp CEO); parent NAVER CEO: Choi Soo-yeon. Based in Grenoble, France. Team size: 101-500. Latest round: Undisclosed. Key investors include NAVER Corporation (parent, public company — KOSPI 035420.KS).
- Founded
- 2017
- Headquarters
- Grenoble, France
- Team size
- 101-500
Value proposition
NAVER's European R&D hub advancing embodied AI and robotics research — combining computer vision, NLP, machine learning, human-robot interaction and large multimodal foundation models to make robots part of everyday life, while serving as NAVER's gateway to European AI partnerships (Mistral AI, INA, French AI factory initiatives).
Products and solutions
AI-for-robotics research (perception, interaction, action/embodied agents), large multimodal foundation models (MUSt3R, PanSt3R, St3R series for 3D/robot navigation), computer vision models, NLP/LLM research, autonomous driving and 3D/HD mapping tech, supports NAVER's 1784 robot-friendly building testbed.
Unique value
The largest industrial AI research centre in France, with 30+ years of AI heritage (inherited from Xerox Research Centre Europe), backed by NAVER's ~20% of annual sales invested in R&D, and a unique real-world robotics testbed (1784 building).
Target customer
Internal NAVER group (NAVER, NAVER Cloud, NAVER Webtoon) plus European corporate and institutional partners in manufacturing, media/audiovisual archives (INA), energy and finance seeking sovereign AI and robotics capabilities.
Industries served
Robotics, autonomous driving, manufacturing (sovereign AI via Mistral AI partnership), media/audiovisual content (INA archive AI), finance (BOKI with Bank of Korea), nuclear energy (Hy-NuRI with KHNP), webtoon/content IP.
Technology advantage
Deep research strength in AI for robotics, computer vision (3D reconstruction, self-supervised learning), NLP, reinforcement learning, sim2real transfer and large multimodal foundation models; strong academic ties with Université Grenoble Alpes (MIAI); researchers from 26 countries; open-source releases on HuggingFace/GitHub (St3R models).
How they differentiate
Unlike pure research labs, NAVER LABS Europe is tightly coupled to a large commercial internet platform (NAVER) with real-world deployment testbeds (1784 robot building, NAVER search, Webtoon), and combines European AI talent with Korean industrial scale and sovereign-AI ambitions.
Main competitors
Meta AI (FAIR, Paris), Google DeepMind (Paris lab), Microsoft Research Cambridge, Inria (French national research institute).
Key partnerships
Mistral AI (manufacturing sovereign AI partnership, NAVER invested 2024), Institut national de l'audiovisuel (INA) — MOU signed Sept 2026 for audiovisual archive AI, Nvidia + Brookfield (1GW+ global AI factory plan), Université Grenoble Alpes (MIAI), NAVER Cloud, NAVER Webtoon.
Notable customers
NAVER group companies (NAVER, NAVER Cloud, NAVER Webtoon), French institutional partners including INA (Institut national de l'audiovisuel), Mistral AI (partner).
Major milestones
2017: Acquired from Xerox (formerly Xerox Research Centre Europe) on June 26, 2017, 2022: NAVER built world's 1st robot-friendly high-rise '1784' building as research testbed, 2024: NAVER invested in Mistral AI, 2026: NAVER Cloud-Mistral AI manufacturing sovereign AI partnership (July), 2026: NAVER CEO proposed France-powered European AI factory + signed INA MOU (Sept).
Growth metrics
Parent NAVER: Q2 2026 revenue ₩3.39 trillion (~$2.5B), +16.2% YoY; NAVER invests ~20% of annual sales in R&D. NAVER Webtoon: 70+ original titles in France, 2M+ French readers.
Market positioning
Positioned as NAVER's European AI beachhead — the anchor for its France-powered European AI factory proposal, sovereign AI push with Mistral AI, and cultural-content AI (INA, Webtoon) during Korea-France cooperation.
Geographic focus
France (Grenoble) and broader Europe; competes for European sovereign AI and robotics talent and partnerships.
Patents and IP
Open-source research models released publicly (MUSt3R, PanSt3R, St3R series for 3D vision and robot navigation); numerous peer-reviewed publications at CVPR, NeurIPS, ICLR, ECCV.
About SangOk Seok (NAVER LABS Corp CEO); parent NAVER CEO: Choi Soo-yeon
SangOk Seok (CEO, NAVER LABS Corp) — joined NAVER in 2015 to lead robotics; CEO of NAVER LABS Corp since ~2019; PhD Mechanical Engineering MIT (MIT Cheetah), previously Samsung Electronics Mechatronics R&D and National Instruments. Choi Soo-yeon (parent NAVER CEO) — former Head of Global Business Support (not CFO); appointed CEO March 2022, reappointed for second term March 2025.
Latest news about NAVER LABS Europe
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Official website: https://europe.naverlabs.com/