Yahoo Finance Korean AI Startup Wrtn Raises Funds in Round Led by BRV Capital
(Bloomberg) -- South Korean artificial intelligence startup Wrtn Technologies Inc. raised 25 billion won ($18.3 million) in a funding round led by BRV Capital Management.
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Existing investors including Capstone Partners Inc., Industrial Bank of Korea and Z Venture Capital also took part in the pre-Series B round, the company said on Friday.
Wrtn, pronounced as “written,” was founded in 2021 by Lee Seyoung and five friends. Since then, they have created an AI platform for 3.7 million users in Korea and Japan by aggregating several large-language models including OpenAI Inc.’s ChatGPT4, Stable Diffusion 3 and Anthropic PBC’s Claude 3, according to Lee.
The company plans to expand to Southeast Asia and the Middle East in the near future, Lee, 29, said in an interview on Bloomberg TV. It plans to keep its service free for most users, while generating revenue from advertising and charging for premium content, he said.
“That way the benefits of the technology will be accessible to more people,” Lee said.
Wrtn is focusing on teenagers, college students and 20-somethings, with about 70% of new joiners under 30, Lee said. “We will establish ourselves firmly in this segment this year and continue to expand,” he said.
--With assistance from Shery Ahn, Haidi Lun and Lauren Faith Lau.
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