[Las Vegas (USA) = AVING News] Gwangju-based startup IndieJ (CEO Jeong Woo-joo) was the only Gwangju-area company that participated in ‘CES 2023’ held in Las Vegas, USA to win the ‘Innovation Award’ and be recognized as an ‘innovation leader’. Standing tall as an ‘icon’. CES is the world’s largest home appliance and IT exhibition, with many leading domestic companies including Samsung and LG participating. The Consumer Technology Association (CTA), which hosts the event, selects the Innovation Award by evaluating the technology, design, and innovation of the submitted works prior to the exhibition. At this CES, IndieJ set up a booth at the Gwangju co-brand promotion center and received a lot of attention from overseas buyers and visitors.
IndieJ provides a service that recommends music by analyzing situations and emotions using artificial intelligence. CEO Jung Woo-joo, who developed this service, worked at an early IT venture company in the early 2000s that is now a listed company, and directly experienced the growth rate of IT companies. CEO Jeong Woo-soo said, “He worked in the IT industry and felt, ‘A company can grow this fast,’ and he thought he should try working in this field someday.”
CEO Jeong, who started a small IT company after graduating from college, established Indie J in 2019 after going through the ‘exit’ (exit strategy) process of selling the company through M&A. CEO Jeong said, “The idea of playing music according to the situation, such as when you wake up in the morning, while exercising, before going to bed, when you are at home, or when you are depressed, led to the creation of ‘Indie J App,’ an artificial intelligence-based customized music streaming service. “It became the background for its birth,” he explained.
‘Indie J App’ automatically analyzes situations and emotions and applies ‘TPO strategy’ such as time, place, and situation to the music platform with a 3D modeling technique artificial intelligence recommendation system. Based on more than 20,000 collected data, including mood, weather, and behavior, it analyzes tastes according to the situation and provides music lists to users.
CEO Jeong said, “The response at CES was better than expected. “There was interest from a variety of fields, from investors asking if we could provide the service to the automobile industry,” he said. IndieJ is not just a music streaming service, but is pursuing collaboration with various fields.
CEO Jeong said, “The core technology of ‘Indie J App’ is tailored to situations and emotions, so it can be applied to patients as well,” and added, “We plan to utilize this to develop a mental health solution and collaborate with Chonnam National University Hospital this year.” . In addition, we are pursuing technology demonstration projects with automobile industries such as BMW and Tesla to provide content optimized for self-driving cars. In addition, we are also planning to build a metaverse platform to revitalize the K-POP global fandom community.
CEO Jeong said, “In the future, any device will be equipped with artificial intelligence, and companies with artificial intelligence solutions will dominate the future IT market.” He added, “In this situation, core technologies and data that analyze situations and emotions with artificial intelligence are needed.” “I think we won this innovation award because our technology to secure the technology was well-received,” he said.
Indie J, which has been recognized for its technological prowess, is receiving a series of love calls. Not only the world’s leading automobile companies, but also domestic investments are pouring in. Korea Venture Investment, which provides a foundation for local startups to grow, invested in Indy J last year, and the Korea Technology Finance Corporation, which conducts business focusing on loan guarantees, also readily provided investment funds to Indy J.
Gwangju City also provides ‘2020 artificial intelligence (city) product and service production support, regulation resolution consulting support, and quality improvement consulting’ as part of the ‘Gwangju AI-centered industrial convergence complex development project’ to ‘Indie J’, which is located in the AI Startup Camp. , supported participation in AI investment fund IR in 2022.
Accelerator Han Sang-min, who has been investing in Indie J since the beginning of its establishment, said, “I have been investing in several Gwangju companies, including Indy J, since 2018, and I feel rewarded as they seem to be slowly showing results.” He added, “We are attending CES to lay the foundation for Gwangju companies to expand into overseas markets.” “I am also grateful to Gwangju City for setting up the ‘Gwangju Pavilion’ and actively supporting startups,” he said.
Mayor Kang Ki-jeong met with Indy J CEO Jeong Woo-joo and employees at CES and encouraged them, saying, “Indie J is a seed of hope for Gwangju to become an opportunity city with a high startup success rate,” adding, “We will help innovative companies like Indy J grow into unicorn companies.” “We will continue to provide support,” he emphasized. CEO Jeong’s future goal is to become a company that serves as a model for local startups.
He confided, “I am honored to be the first artificial intelligence company to receive an innovation award in Gwangju at a time when artificial intelligence is in its infancy,” and added, “The disappointing thing is that companies are not yet warm toward companies in Gwangju.”
He continued, “Investment in local companies must be made at a speedy pace so that they can develop technology and grow by expanding into the global market, but the reality is that there is not even talent that can be used right away.” He added, “Once we develop talent, they leave for Seoul in search of a better position.” . “Securing talent is one of the biggest problems,” he emphasized.
CEO Jeong, who selected Shinhan Financial Group as the underwriter for the listing last year with the goal of an IPO (initial public offering), said, “Our primary goal is to be listed and become the first unicorn company in Gwangju,” and added, “Our company is an example for those who dream of starting a startup.” I hope that good companies will continue to emerge. “I hope that the day will come when so many good companies emerge and Gwangju becomes Silicon Valley,” he said.