SEOUL—For decades, theme parks were built around beloved characters. Now, a Seoul-based startup wants to make the fan the star.

Millennials Works, which operates AI-powered immersive entertainment venues under its SPACE:V brand, announced Tuesday the launch of its Series A funding round—a milestone that arrives on the heels of a strategic investment from SM Culture Partners, the corporate venture arm of K-pop powerhouse SM Entertainment. Earlier backers Pacemakers and CNTTech also participated in the round, the company said.

The funding crystallizes a broader shift in the $600 billion experiential economy: as streaming fatigue sets in and fans crave proximity to the IP worlds they love, a new generation of tech-first entertainment operators is moving to fill that gap—and attract the capital that once flowed exclusively to Hollywood studios and legacy theme-park operators.

FROM PASSIVE VIEWERS TO MAIN CHARACTERS

The company’s pitch is straightforward, if technically ambitious. Its flagship platform, SPACE:V, uses real-time motion tracking and generative AI to insert visitors into scenes from their favorite IP universes—gaming franchises, K-pop fandoms, webtoon narratives—producing personalized digital assets they can share and keep. A companion product, ANYMOMENT, delivers similar experiences through AI content kiosks deployed in high-traffic retail and entertainment venues.

"We are solving the ‘passive content’ problem," said Yoo-sang Song, CEO of Millennials Works, in an interview. "Every fan wants to be the main character. We give them that—not as a gimmick, but as a scalable, repeatable infrastructure play."

The company says it has executed more than 50 projects with marquee clients including Google, NVIDIA, Samsung, SM Entertainment, and Blizzard Entertainment. Its flagship AI Theme Park in Seoul drew over 45,000 visitors in its first six months—a figure that has caught the attention of global IP holders scouting new revenue streams beyond merchandise and digital downloads.

“Their unparalleled ability to blend world-class IP with sophisticated AI planning suggests they are on track to become a dominant force in global entertainment infrastructure.”

— Representative, Pacemakers

THE SM ENTERTAINMENT CONNECTION

The involvement of SM Culture Partners—the CVC of SM Entertainment, the label that launched acts including Girls’ Generation, EXO, and aespa—is more than a financial endorsement. It signals that established Hallyu gatekeepers see AI-driven experience technology as a strategic priority, not merely a novelty.

SM Entertainment has spent the past several years building an internal metaverse and AI ecosystem, most visibly through its “SMART” concept, which imagines its artists as digital-physical hybrids. A partnership with Millennials Works could allow SM to extend its IP into physical spaces without the capital expenditure of building proprietary infrastructure.

The deal also reflects a maturing investment thesis in Korean entertainment technology. Where earlier K-content crossovers leaned on social media virality and streaming licensing fees, a new cohort of companies—including Millennials Works—is pursuing what Song calls an “Experience-as-a-Service” model: recurring, venue-based revenue generated wherever there is an active fandom.

SCALING THE MODEL: FROM SEOUL TO SINGAPORE

Millennials Works currently operates in South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and the United States, and is establishing a Southeast Asian hub in Singapore—a market chosen for its density of tech infrastructure, English-language connectivity, and proximity to the region’s fast-growing middle class. The Series A proceeds will fund that expansion as well as deeper integration of proprietary generative AI models into the SPACE:V platform, the company said.

One bellwether for the model’s international viability is the company’s work with Blizzard Entertainment, the Activision subsidiary behind the Overwatch and Warcraft franchises. After successful fan-experience activations at the Overwatch League, Millennials Works said it is expanding that partnership to bring its AI theme park technology to Blizzard’s own venues and events globally.

"Gaming IP and K-pop IP have more in common than people think," Song said. "Both have passionate, global, digitally native fan bases that are used to interacting with content, not just consuming it. That’s our core addressable market."

A MARKET LOOKING FOR INFRASTRUCTURE

The experiential entertainment industry is in the midst of a structural reshuffling. Traditional theme park operators—Disney, Universal, Merlin Entertainments—are grappling with high fixed costs and aging physical infrastructure. Meanwhile, the FAST (Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV) and digital content ecosystems have created a generation of IP holders with global audiences but no physical footprint.

Millennials Works is betting that it can serve as the infrastructure layer for both worlds: providing turnkey AI experience venues to IP holders who want a physical presence, while retaining a technology platform that appreciates with each new franchise it ingests.

Investors appear to agree. Pacemakers, an early-stage Korean VC known for backing execution-heavy founders, cited the company’s ability to turn investor feedback into market results as a key differentiator—language that reflects growing pressure in Korean venture to fund operators, not just visionaries.

Terms of the Series A were not disclosed. The company said it expects to close the round by year’s end.

Millennials Works was founded in 2021 and is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, developing AI-powered immersive content platforms for global entertainment venues. The company focuses on creating experiential, IP-based digital spaces and services that blend artificial intelligence with advanced display and interaction technologies to reimagine how audiences engage with culture and brands.​

Its flagship offerings include AI-driven photo booths and kiosks, virtual characters, and modular digital pop-up spaces that can be customized for K‑pop, gaming, webtoons, and other fan-centric IPs. These solutions enable venues, organizers, and rights holders to turn visitors into active participants, allowing them to appear as characters, step into story worlds, and generate personalized digital souvenirs that can be shared instantly on social platforms.​

By combining a cloud-based content engine with spatial design know-how, Millennials Works provides a scalable platform that can be deployed across theme parks, shopping malls, pop-up events, and tourist hubs worldwide. Its long-term vision is to build AI-powered theme park and immersive entertainment ecosystems originating from Korea and expanding to key global markets through partnerships with leading entertainment, gaming, and webtoon companies. More information is available at millennialsworks.com.