'AI Human Video' Ryan Rocket Raises 6.5 Billion KRW Series A Investment from IBK and Others

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Jeong-su] Ryan Rocket, a startup specializing in AI video generation using digital humans, announced on the 16th that it has secured 6.5 billion KRW in Series A funding.

This investment round included new investors such as IBK Industrial Bank, ID Ventures, Daesung Startup Investment, and Harang Technology Investment. Existing investor T-Investment also participated as a follow-up investor. T-Investment had previously invested in a 1 billion KRW Pre-A Series round in December last year, alongside Kiwoom Investment.

Ryan Rocket is a company that produces digital humans, also known as 'virtual humans' or 'artificial humans,' using deep learning-based voice and video synthesis technology. Leveraging its digital human production technology, it operates the Onair Studio (onairstudio.ai) service, enabling anyone to easily create videos.

Users of the service can create video content where virtual characters (metapersonas) speak naturally by simply inputting text. Last year, the company produced AI casters for MBC’s general election vote counting broadcast, as well as audio narrations for the Cultural Heritage Administration’s braille sensory books featuring the voices of actors Lee Byung-hun and Han Ji-min.

Earlier this year, Ryan Rocket signed a business agreement to nurture AI bankers with Woori Bank and has expanded its applications to leading financial companies such as Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, DB Life Insurance, and Kyobo Life Insurance by providing digital humans and video content production platforms utilizing them.

Ko Dae-geon, team leader at ID Ventures who led this investment, stated, "Ryan Rocket is the fastest advancing company in the video AI field and possesses sufficient global competitiveness. We decided to invest because we are confident they can open up new markets that existing AI companies have not shown."

Ryan Rocket CEO Jung Seung-hwan said, "Although we have entered an era where video is becoming the basic grammar beyond text and images, producing videos remains labor-intensive and burdensome for individuals. Ryan Rocket aims to reinvent the way video content is created through AI and help anyone produce professional studio-level content."

Meanwhile, Ryan Rocket participated as a Korean startup panel showcasing AI technology at the global ‘GTC 2021 Conference’ hosted by NVIDIA in November. The company plans to conclude the beta test of Onair Studio in December and officially launch its video production service utilizing digital humans.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.