11st Invests 100 Million Won in Startup 'Wadle' to Enhance Shopping Convenience for Visually Impaired

11st uses the smartphone's voice support feature to read aloud the information inside the blue boxes selected in each area.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] On the 19th, 11st announced that it will invest in a startup to enhance shopping convenience for visually impaired people.

11st decided to invest 100 million KRW in equity in the social venture "Wadle," which launched the AI shopping app "Sori Market" that guarantees accessibility for the visually impaired. Wadle started as an undergraduate startup team at KAIST in 2018 and has been refining its service since participating in the second cohort of SK Telecom's "Impact Ups" program in 2020, which supports innovative startups addressing social issues.

11st focused on Wadle's solution that combines image text recognition technology (OCR) and artificial intelligence (AI). Through this partnership, 11st plans to introduce Wadle's OCR+AI solution into the 11st app and web services by the second half of this year at the latest.

Once this solution is implemented, visually impaired users will be able to listen to various image information provided on 11st's product detail pages, including the text within images. Additionally, 11st plans to further strengthen the integration of its product API, which has been provided to Sori Market since last year, to enable users to experience a wider range of products and shopping services.

11st has been continuously working to improve web and app accessibility to ensure no inconvenience for people with disabilities. From the planning stage within the service, all pages are inspected and developed according to guidelines that guarantee accessibility, and applicable improvements have been reflected in the service after user testing with actual visually impaired individuals.

11st stated, "Through investments and partnerships with innovative startups that realize social value, 11st will make more active efforts for digitally marginalized groups in the future," adding, "As e-commerce brings convenience to our lives, we will take the lead in delivering the joy of shopping to more people without discrimination."