Wrtn Technologies, Inc.
“Generative AI platform company” Leeton Technologies raises 2.84 billion yen pre-series B; Silicon Valley “BRV Capital” joins as lead investor; total amount raised is 5 billion yen*
As a BtoC generation AI company, we are leading the “popularization of AI” where everyone can use AI.
……
“Generative AI platform company” Leeton Technologies (Headquarters: Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, CEO: Lee Se-young, hereinafter referred to as Leeton) will conduct a pre-series B round on June 7, 2024 in the United States, Japan, South Korea, etc. We raised 2.84 billion yen* from global investors.
[Image 1: https://prtimes.jp/i/119361/35/resize/d119361-35-32e8c6180e21b8269651-0.png&s3=119361-35-9da310f006d46996c8212b6af4f32421-1487×1043.png ]
■Silicon Valley “BRV Capital Management” (BRV) joins as a new lead investor This round was initially proceeding as an insider round, but a new overseas investor focused on Leeton’s growth and potential, and BRV joined as the lead investor. BRV is a Silicon Valley venture capital company famous for its initial investment in Waze, the core technology behind Google Maps, and the global fintech company PayPal.
Other existing investors also participating include Capstone Partners, IBK Corporate Bank, and Z Venture Capital.
■Cumulative procurement amount reaches 5 billion yen*
This funding follows the 2022 pre-series A of 420 million yen and the 2023 series A of 1.65 billion yen, bringing the total amount raised to 5 billion yen*. Furthermore, the final procurement amount may change in the future due to requests from some new investment institutions. Leeton has established itself as a leading generative AI platform company in South Korea with a cumulative total of over 3.7 million subscribers to its services. With this large-scale investment, Leeton has solidified its position as a leading generative AI company. It was rated as .
■Leading the “popularization of AI” under the vision of “Bring AGI Close To People”
With the vision of “Bring AGI Close To People. Your First AI Agent,” Leeton is committed to building the Large-Scale Language Model (LLM) boom in 2023 and 2024. Following the AI semiconductor/infrastructure boom of 2017, it is attracting attention as a startup with the most powerful potential in the era of full-fledged “popularization of AI services” that will soon arrive.
In March 2024, we will make a large-scale update to our service “wrtn” and provide various UX and UI to improve user convenience, including “AI search” that allows you to search for the latest information. I am. In addition to being able to create your own AI character chatbot, various AI portal services such as chat and AI tools are also becoming more sophisticated, with the aim of
“popularizing AI” so that everyone can use AI.
■Currently developing an “AI Compound System” that maximizes the user’s perceived performance
We are focusing on the development and utilization of AI compound systems that maximize the user’s realistic experience performance. We are also actively incorporating RAG (retrieval enhanced generation) technology and AI agent technology into our services to overcome the limitations of existing LLM.
■Comment from BRV Managing Director Jung Min
To date, BRV has focused on discovering promising companies that define the future of each industry at each critical technological transition. Just as in the era of railways, electricity, and the internet, today’s market-focused efforts across countries to build AI infrastructure are ultimately aimed at realizing the everyday combination of AI and humans. . I believe that the AI
democratization methodology that Leeton is establishing and the user response to it will lead to successful expansion beyond Korea and Japan into other non-English speaking markets in the future. ■Leeton representative Lee Se-young’s comment
[Image 2: https://prtimes.jp/i/119361/35/resize/d119361-35-84d816578eb2d3698725-1.png&s3=119361-35-bc970195980f14da003b5ad2cb04c4f9-260×286.png ]
As AI services are expected to compete globally in the future, Leeton aims to become an AI platform service that allows all people to receive the help they need most easily and conveniently. Through this investment, we will focus on the development and sophistication of products and services that the times demand, and by creating an organization with high competitiveness and technological capabilities that will make this possible, we will grow as a company that leads the popularization of AI. I will continue to do so. *JPY/Won rate conversion as of June 7, 2024
■About Wrtn Technologies, Inc.
Wrtn Technologies, Inc. is a startup company that is a pioneer in the Korean generative AI utilization service industry and provides “wrtn”, an interactive generative AI service that ranks first in the number of web and app users. Established in April 2021, we were the first generation AI service to receive the Innovation Award at CES2023. In June 2023, we completed Series A funding of 1.65 billion yen (Z Venture Capital (ZVC)), and in May 2023, we hosted Generative AI Asia, which was attended by global AI companies such as Microsoft and AWS. . In November 2023, we became the first Korean company to receive the “Tech Award”, which is one of the special awards given to outstanding technological capabilities, at the “ICF Business Acceleration Program 2023” sponsored by Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc.
Representative Lee Se-young is the chairman of the Generative AI Startup Association, which was launched in September 2023 with the aim of building a generative AI ecosystem and increasing the
competitiveness of the Korean artificial intelligence industry. We were selected as the first company in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s “Project to Promote Overseas Business Attraction in Cooperation with Financial Institutions, etc.,” and established a Japanese corporation, “Leaton Technologies Japan,” in November 2023. X: @wrtn_jp
[Inquiries regarding Leeton Technologies Japan services]
Business operator: japancorp@wrtn.io (representative)
Customer contact: Inquiry form
(https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSczgUnpFrSKWMhINRBWfnCd4NYnoUupm9bUdXbK0YKdKYTrKQ/viewform) More details about this release:
https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000035.000119361.html