With a growing demand for consumer-focused AI solutions, Wrtn Technologies, the fastest-growing generative AI platform in Korea and Japan, will soon launch its services in the UAE to broaden its footprint in the Middle East and North Africa market.

Founded in 2021, the Seoul-based startup raised $18.3 million in a June funding round. It offers free AI services such as a writing assistant, an online document creation tool, conversational search, image generation, and other related services.

“We are preparing to enter the MENA region by establishing a UAE office this year,” says Seyoung Lee, CEO of Wrtn. “Our goal is to become a super-app that encompasses Asia.”

The service will be called Maktub AI in the region. It will specialize in AI search and various AI services based on Arabic and English. The startup plans to accelerate user acquisition in the MENA through collaborations with major local companies, including Microsoft Gulf and G42.

Since many AI services currently focus on productivity, making them often too complex for the public, Lee says Wrtn is concentrating on positioning AI services as “easy and fun.” 

The AI startup merges large language models (LLMs) like OpenAI’s GPT-4, Stable Diffusion 3, and Anthropic’s Claude 3, focusing on AI search, providing real-time information. 

“The AI search offers fast and accurate personalized answers. Through the design of the compound AI system, Wrtn has significantly improved accuracy by linking LLMs with external APIs,” says Lee.

The startup has over 4 million users and maintains a 10% weekly growth rate. Lee notes that approximately 60% of its users are from the 10-20 age group.

“Wrtn creates an ecosystem where aggressively acquired users become loyal customers. AI Search is a prime example. As user utterance data increases, the service improves continuously,” he adds.

LOCALIZATION

With current and planned AI use cases across businesses dominating in 2024, the process of training AI with localized data, also known as AI localization, is garnering attention and becoming a recurring concept. Localization supports faster response times and more intelligent interactions between users and systems.

Keeping that in mind, as Wrtn expands its operations, Lee says the most important aspect will be localizing each generative AI service in the most optimized way in each country, which will help it maintain a strong competitive edge over global services.

 “All major features of Wrtn are being localized and advanced in forms tailored to each country’s users. Due to our flywheel structure, the degree of differentiation will exponentially increase.”

There will be differentiated features tailored to the unique characteristics and needs of users in each country.

“We believe that local generative AI aggregators can emerge in the MENA region, which has a unique and superior language and culture,” he adds.

INNOVATION

According to Lee, accelerating innovation and developing unique solutions to disrupt markets is achieved through its two “flywheel structures” — a team culture that operates like a professional sports team and blitz scaling during a technological transition. 

“To operate in a sports team manner, we trust core talents without imposing restrictions. Top-performing talents create their own innovations if the company focuses on giving proactive trust to them.” 

“In the MENA region, we aim to attract core talents rapidly,” Lee adds.

He says the startup is accelerating innovation based on the blitz scaling mindset, meaning a high-growth mindset for companies that, despite uncertainties, take risks to grow at an incredible speed. 

“That is how we launched the first generative AI application before the official release of ChatGPT,” he says.

In Korea, Lee says that Wrtn launched the first generative AI application before the official release of ChatGPT. The Agent Builder, Wrtn Studio, was launched in May 2023, ahead of the GPT Store. 

Globally, the generative AI market size is projected to grow from $67.18 billion in 2024 to over $967 billion by 2032. A BCG report found that generative AI has taken center stage in the Middle East as a key agenda item for senior leaders across organizations. About 93% of C-level executives in the region have expressed increasing investment in AI and GenAI technology this year, presenting a key opportunity for growth.

Looking ahead, according to Lee, since the generative AI market has been growing primarily around LLM makers, it will ultimately be organized so that the platforms hold the greatest value. 

“Already, models comparable to GPT, such as Gemini and Claude, are emerging rapidly. As a result, the LLM costs have significantly decreased. We will see a multitude of LLMs and applications surrounding us within three to five years, and eventually, a platform that integrates them all will emerge.”

The most significant way these platforms will realize monetization will be through advertising, adds Lee. “In the generative AI market, a staggering amount of user personal information and utterance data is being collected. Various generative ads are being proposed, though it will take time to finalize these forms. We are already conducting PoCs with major companies, demonstrating efficiencies at least double greater than existing platforms.”