Heodak, well known as the company of comedian Heo Kyung-hwan (co-CEOs Heo Kyung-hwan and Kim Joo-hyung), has successfully secured a new Series A investment worth 3 billion KRW from IBK Industrial Bank, following a 1.5 billion KRW seed investment from Kakao Ventures last year.
After receiving seed investment from Kakao Ventures last year, Heodak was advised to systematize its unique operational methods specialized in food, leading to the introduction of AI throughout its operations. As a result, within one year, the company showed remarkable performance across various indicators, attracting the attention of many investors, and on the 29th, confirmed IBK Industrial Bank as its investment partner.
Jang Hyung-soo, head of AI development at Heodak, stated, “Until 2019, we had accumulated only about 60 products over 10 years. By introducing an AI system to the previous method of releasing fewer than 10 products annually, we shifted to a method of predicting demand and quickly producing by evaluating consumer responses and satisfaction.”
He added, “Since then, the number of products increased to over 150 within a year, significantly improving the speed of product launches and individual sales revenue. We expect growth of over 200% in 2020 compared to the previous year. With a higher adoption rate of the system next year, we believe even faster growth is possible.”
Recently, Heodak’s self-developed AI system has gained a reputation in the food industry, prompting leading domestic food and franchise companies, which had struggled to find breakthroughs in online sales, to send love calls for strategic partnerships. It is reported that concrete negotiations are currently underway.
Meanwhile, Heodak, which secured its first investment in 2019 with Kakao Ventures as a partner, has expanded its business scope from chicken breast products to general food under the co-CEO system of Heo Kyung-hwan and Kim Joo-hyung, showing nearly 200% annual growth. Additionally, it is notable that, unusually for a food company, Heodak has its own AI development team and has introduced AI throughout its operations, enhancing work efficiency and selling nearly 3 million products monthly.
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