VAIV Company will make full use of “profiling artificial intelligence” (AI) as its next growth engine to drive global expansion and a major earnings rebound, its CEO Kim Kyeong-seo said during a recent interview.
Profiling AI helps users to rapidly access summarized data of influencers or experts with specialty in a certain area. The technology is particularly useful for sorting out information about many people in a short period of time.
The CEO of the AI analytics firm, listed on the tech-heavy Kosdaq, said the company has found a major business opportunity in the convergence of profiling AI and the global beauty industry.
VAIV Company recently launched WHOTAG — an AI-driven beauty influencer search platform — targeting the rapid growth of the global beauty market and its relevant services.
The company is betting big on the service amid the ever-toughening landscape of the global AI industry. Kim said any AI firms that stick to conventional services focusing on large language models (LLMs) can no longer survive.
“Any AI or big data firms that offer traditional LLM services cannot achieve sustainable growth and compete against Big Techs such as Google, so we decided to launch our specialized service especially for the global beauty market,” Kim told The Korea Times during an interview Oct. 28.
VAIV Company headquarters in Seoul / Courtesy of VAIV Company
VAIV Company has decades of expertise in natural language processing and big data analytics. The company, formerly Daumsoft, was established in 2000 and is considered a first-generation AI firm of Korea.
WHOTAG opened its beta version in August, and launched its full-fledged service on Monday by opening subscriptions to global users. The platform searches and lists up beauty influencers upon the request of its users.
VAIV Company completed its profiling process for almost all global beauty influencers before the launch of the service. This is the first of its kind, so the company hopes to clinch more partnerships and expand its user base rapidly in line with the soaring growth of the industry.
The main page of VAIV Company’s WHOTAG beauty influencer search platform / Courtesy of VAIV Company
The company identifies global marketers and industry officials as the service’s initial revenue area.
“We place a particular focus on three major beauty powerhouses, such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan,” Kim said. “Southeast Asia also emerges as one of the fastest growing beauty markets. We have profiled local influencers in all the territories and remain confident in grabbing a major growth opportunity there.”
The head of the company also shared hopes to diversify its revenue areas into other industrial areas by utilizing its expertise in the profiling AI.
“The beauty industry is the first chapter of our global expansion,” he said. “Given the massive expandability of the AI service, we plan to extend the scope of relevant services into other areas.”
VAIV Company CEO Kim Kyeong-seo shares its vision during an interview at its headquarters in Seoul, Oct. 28. Courtesy of VAIV Company
VAIV Company reported an operating loss of 6 billion won ($4.2 million) in 2024, but the firm is rapidly reducing the loss. Kim said the company is expected to reduce the operating loss by half this year on enhanced profitability of its multiple AI services. Its sales target for 2025 is 20 billion won.
Regarding the firm’s plan to achieve a turnaround, Kim said it will not stick to quantity-wise growth, but focus on growth in quality.
“Now is not the time for us to discuss any specific earnings target, as most AI firms face survival risks,” Kim said. “It may sound paradoxical, but AI firms are affected most by the rapid rise of AI. We will utilize the current AI paradigm shift as a chance for our rebound.”
