After Inifiq in January 2021, a new Korean data start-up, DDE, has announced its arrival in Luxembourg. (Photo: Shutterstock)

After Inifiq in January 2021, a new Korean data start-up, DDE, has announced its arrival in Luxembourg. (Photo: Shutterstock)

South Korean startup Data Design Engineering (DDE) will be opening its European headquarters in the grand duchy, Luxembourg Trade & Invest said on Monday.

Founded in Seoul in 2014, DDE develops data-driven artificial intelligence (AI) solutions and services for various sectors and products.

The company was founded in February in Luxembourg and has started recruiting for its European headquarters, planning to make the country the entry point for its business development. In a post for Luxembourg Trade & Invest, Jiyon Jang, project manager and senior researcher at DDE, says she was invited to explore the opportunity of setting up in Luxembourg by her clients, such as space-tech companies Gradel and Spacety, and consultancy firm BDO.

“We also met with national innovation agency  and other players, and the friendliness, hospitality and supportiveness of everyone we met really struck us. This drove us to decide that Luxembourg would be our new home,” said Jang. Talks are also underway with the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (List) on research projects.

Luxembourg is capitalising on years of exchanges with South Korea, notably from its former finance minister, Pierre Gramegna (DP), followed by Lhoft's strong interest in the country and MasonBower’s incubator.

At the beginning of June, another Korean startup present in Luxembourg, Contec, announced that it had raised €50m. At the beginning of January 2021, Infiniq, which specialises in autonomous driving, also announced that it had chosen Luxembourg as its European HQ.

This story was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.