Draft:DATUMO

Datumo^[1] is a South Korea–based artificial intelligence (AI) company with an international branch in San Francisco, United States. The company provides large-scale data solutions for AI model development, including dataset construction, character AI services, and large language model (LLM) reliability evaluation.^[2]^[3]

History

Datumo was founded in November 2018 as the international corporate entity of the South Korean startup SelectStar.^[4] The company has participated in government-led AI initiatives, including the Ministry of Science and ICT’s National AI Foundation Model Project in 2025, where it joined the SK Telecom consortium as a data and reliability partner.^[5]

In 2019, Datumo launched its crowdsourcing platform Cash Mission, which surpassed 400,000 cumulative downloads by 2023. The company has also developed benchmark datasets such as KorQuAD 2.0 for Korean machine reading comprehension and KorNAT, a benchmark for evaluating LLM reliability.^[6]

Funding

In August 2025, Datumo announced a $15.5 million Series B funding round led by Salesforce Ventures, with participation from other investors.^[7]^[8] The funding is intended to support the company’s expansion of its LLM evaluation platform and global business development.

Recognition

Datumo was listed in Forbes Asia’s “100 to Watch” in 2025, highlighting the company’s role in advancing data-centric and trustworthy AI.^[9]

In addition, international coverage has recognized Datumo for addressing challenges of data bottlenecks and AI trust in generative AI development.^[10]

Products and services

Datumo provides end-to-end data solutions for AI development:

AI dataset construction – supervised learning datasets tailored to client needs
Pre-trained data distribution – large-scale datasets with resolved copyright and licensing issues
Character AI services – development of character-driven AI experiences, including the in-house service Momojam, which maintains episodic storylines and character universes.^[11]^[12]^[13]^[14]
LLM reliability evaluation – benchmark datasets, SaaS evaluation tools, and red teaming for generative AI safety^[2]

Awards and recognition

Datumo has received multiple awards and recognitions in South Korea:

2020 – Data-Stars Grand Prize (Ministry of Science and ICT)^[15]
2021 – Forbes Asia 30 Under 30 (Enterprise Technology)^[16]
2023 – Digital Innovation Award (The Korea Economic Daily)^[17]
2025 – Forbes Asia “100 to Watch”^[9]

National AI projects

In August 2025, Datumo was selected as part of the SK Telecom consortium in the South Korean government’s National AI Foundation Model Project.^[5]^[3] In this role, the company is responsible for building high-quality datasets and conducting reliability verification of large-scale AI models.

Events

In March 2025, Datumo co-hosted the Global Generative AI Red Team Challenge at the Mobile World Congress (MWC25) in Barcelona, Spain, in collaboration with the GSMA.^[18]^[19]^[20]^[21]^[22]^[23] The event tested generative AI systems for harmful or biased outputs and highlighted Datumo’s expertise in structured AI safety evaluations.

References

[1] ttps://datumo.com

[edaily-2] 1 2 EDaily, "SelectStar joins national AI foundation model project," August 4, 2025

[srtimes-3] 1 2 SR Times, "SK Telecom consortium selected for national AI project," August 4, 2025

[4] SelectStar official website

[msit20250804-5] 1 2 Ministry of Science and ICT press release, August 4, 2025

[6] "KorNAT: Benchmark for LLM Reliability," arXiv preprint, 2024

[forbesfunding-7] Forbes, "Salesforce Ventures Joins Korean AI Startup Datumo’s Series B," August 11, 2025

[techcrunchfunding-8] TechCrunch, "Seoul-based Datumo raises $15.5M to expand LLM evaluation, challenging Scale AI," August 11, 2025

[forbes100-9] 1 2 Forbes Asia, "100 to Watch 2025," August 25, 2025

[koreatechdesk-10] KoreaTechDesk, "From data bottlenecks to AI trust: How Korea’s Datumo is shaping the future of reliable generative AI," August 2025

[11] Digital Today, "SelectStar unveils Momojam, a character-based AI service," March 2025

[12] Platum, "SelectStar launches Momojam character AI," March 2025

[13] EPNC, "Momojam brings conversational character AI," March 2025

[14] Lao Times, "KOCCA brings Korean AI innovation to SXSW 2025," March 2025

[15] Ministry of Science and ICT, 2020 press release

[16] Forbes, "Forbes Asia 30 Under 30 – 2021"

[17] Hankyung, "Digital Innovation Awards," 2023

[18] AI Times, "SelectStar hosts global AI red team challenge at MWC25," March 2025

[19] ZDNet Korea, "Korean startups showcase AI red teaming at MWC25," March 7, 2025

[20] MWC Barcelona official agenda, "Gen AI Red Team Challenge"

[21] MWC Barcelona exhibitor listing – Datumo

[22] VentureSquare, "Datumo demonstrates AI safety at MWC25," March 2025

[23] Chosun Biz (English edition), "Korean startup SelectStar (Datumo) to showcase AI red teaming at MWC25," February 25, 2025

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

[19]

[20]

[21]

[22]

[23]