Heejin Kang (Leslie)
I am curious about the commercialization of embodied intelligence, especially the venture and corporate endeavors that make it happen. I did equity research at Samsung Securities for four years, where I covered Korea's automotive and robot sectors. My job as a robot analyst involved tracking early inflection points for the robotics industry before it had meaningful institutional visibility, and building relationships with founders and investors across the ecosystem.
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MediaMedia engagements presenting my views on the robotics industry. I use the slogan "Sound Mind, Sound Body" to reflect my view that commercially viable humanoids require a state-of-the-art convergence of intelligence (AI), physical capability (actuators), and stamina (battery). As robots approach commercialization, they will have to stand the test of safety and reliability—and whether real-world applications will prove genuinely feasible and lucrative. |
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Tech Talk: 2025, The Voyage Continues
Samsung Securities YouTube — May 2025 A 57-minute live seminar on the global robot market, adding follow-ups on industry megatrends and persisting bottlenecks. Delivered to a live professional audience. |
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Tech Talk: Searching for the Missing Pieces to Commercialization
Samsung Securities YouTube — Sep 2024 A 73-minute live seminar on the global robot market, key players, core enabling technologies, and critical bottlenecks to commercialization. Delivered to a live professional audience. |
ResearchPublications covering the Korean and global robotics sector, spanning in-depth initiation reports, thematic analyses, and weekly digests that track corporate, funding, research, and policy news. My work examines technological readiness, commercial feasibility, and the structural trends that shape the sector's longer-term trajectory. I continue to write independently on frontier developments in robotics and AI. |
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Robots: Searching for the Missing Pieces to Commercialization
Samsung Securities Research Center — Sep 2024 Sector initiation: my debut and in-depth coverage of the robotics sector, drawing on established manufacturers and academic literature to distill a framework for evaluating the sector's readiness for commercialization. |
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HMC Visit Note: Leveling Up in the US
Samsung Securities Research Center — Dec 2022 My first hands-on, independent project as I had to cover for my analyst on the trip. Visits to Boston Dynamics, Motional and Hyundai Motors' US business units provided the foundational inspiration and perspective that shaped my subsequent work as a robot analyst. |
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Korean Market Sentiment on Humanoids
Samsung Securities Research Center — 2025 Tracks the shifting Korean investment narrative around humanoid robots. I argue that "successful applications" — verifiable through robust, meaningful track records and actual earnings — will be the most meaningful measure of competitiveness. |
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Robot Weeklies (Apr – Jun 2025)
Samsung Securities Research Center — Apr–Jun 2025 A recurring digest of global and Korean robotics trends, covering corporate news, funding activity, policy developments, and research breakthroughs. See all (9)
[No sign of cooling, end-June]
[What is the big picture? 2nd week June] [Defining robot utility, 1st week June] [Unwavering interest, final week May] [In search of a winning edge, mid-May] [Voyage continues, 3rd week May] [Enhancing business visibility, 2nd week May] [Pedal to the metal, entering May] [Race for hegemony, 4th week April] |
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Robotics Training: Reinforcement Learning vs Imitation Learning
Independent writing — Mar 2026 An independent research note on the state of reinforcement learning vs imitation learning in robotics, and emerging developments in robotic intelligence that caught my attention. Written outside of any institutional context. |
Events & SeminarsEvents I organized or participated in as a speaker, spanning Samsung's flagship wholesale and retail investor conferences, and external seminars with the wider ecosystem. These engagements were an opportunity to introduce the sector to new audiences, facilitate broader investment conversations, and contribute to building a robotics community around a nascent, emerging industry. |
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Samsung Global Investors Conference (SGIC 2025)
Samsung Securities — May 2025 The first time robot companies participated in Samsung's flagship wholesale investor conference. Brought in CEO keynotes from Holiday Robotics and SAIGE AI, alongside IR teams from UBTech, Doosan Robotics, SPG, Robotis, CMES, and Yuil Robotics. |
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Samsung Robot Conference
Samsung Securities — Mar 2025 The first event to connect Korean robot companies with a wider institutional and wholesale audience. Brought in R&D keynotes from Bear Robotics, Hyundai Robotics Lab, and Doosan Robotics. |
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KSS IR Day — Robotics Retail Forum
Samsung Securities — Jun 2025 Samsung's first retail-focused initiative to introduce robot companies to a broader client base. Connected Yuil Robotics, Robotis, SBB Tech, A-Robot, Robros, and AIDIN Robotics with 150+ participants within Samsung's retail clientele. |
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QUAD Ventures Tech Day — Guest Speaker
QUAD Ventures — Jun 2025 Invited to speak at QUAD Venture's Tech Day Seminar, marking my first engagement with the domestic VC community. Presented my investment viewpoint on the robotics sector to a wider audience of venture professionals. |
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BnP Seminar: Navigating the Future of Robotics — Guest Speaker
BLT & Partners — Jun 2025 Invited to speak at BLT & Partners' deep-tech seminar. Covered the paradigm shift from mechanical automation to intelligent systems, the commercial readiness of humanoid robots, and the larger, structural forces accelerating robot deployments globally. |
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More Engagements
2024 – 2025 Invited to give internal seminars (robot sector overview, strategic consultation) for Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor Group, SL Corporation, HL Group, Doosan Enerbility, and SBVA Seoul. |
Experience |
| Feb 2024 – Jul 2025 |
Analyst, Robotics (Tech Team) — Samsung Securities, Research Center
Pioneered robotics sector coverage at Samsung. Developed investment theses on nascent robot makers ahead of institutional attention. Led robot-themed initiatives across retail and wholesale investor platforms, bridging early-stage Korean startups and established manufacturers with institutional and retail investors for the first time. Contributed to IPO deal-building leading to successful listings including CMES. |
| Aug 2021 – Jan 2024 |
Research Associate, Autos (EV/Mobility Team) — Samsung Securities, Research Center
Covered automakers and part makers. Facilitated investor-management interactions in form of private calls, NDR events, and production site visits. Managed financial models forecasting corporate earnings, built market models assessing industry size and growth rates (+regional EV penetration), and provided regular/ad-hoc opinions and valuations. Contributed to pre-IPO sector analysis supporting successful listings including SOCAR and Gridwiz. |
| Mar 2021 – May 2021 |
Research Assistant — Boston Consulting Group, Seoul
Supported financial and commercial due diligence for a lithium-ion battery client pursuing an inorganic growth strategy. Conducted competitive landscape analysis for the US ESS market, and facilitated 10+ industry expert interviews to confirm business rationale for front-the-meter (FTM) market players. |
| Sep 2020 – Jan 2021 |
Intern, Institutional Investor Group — PCFT (PeopleFund)
Managed loan book performance data using SQL. Supported KYC/ODD processes and the execution of a KRW 3B structured investment scheme with overseas institutional investors. |
| Jan 2019 – Jul 2019 |
Intern, ECA-Backed Project Finance — Société Générale, Seoul
Assisted structured export finance transactions for mines, LNG carriers, FPSOs, and offshore oil rigs across Southeast and Middle East Asia. Contributed to credit applications, LOI issuance, and syndication term sheets involving major Korean E&C firms. |
Education |
| Mar 2015 – Aug 2020 | B.A. in Economics — Seoul National University |
| Aug 2011 – May 2014 | Bilingual IB Diploma — United World College of Southeast Asia |