1st Generation AI Company 'Vibe'... "Launching Metaverse and Digital Twin Integrated Platform Early Next Year"

[Startup24+] Vibe Company
Developing Digital Twin with LH... Surpassing Major IT Corporations
Started as Next In-House Venture... Strong in Language Analysis
Performance Also 'Winning'... Entering Metaverse Market

[Asia Economy Reporter Junhyung Lee] As the metaverse (expanded virtual world) continues to be a hot topic, digital twins are also gaining attention. A digital twin is a technology that creates a 'twin' of reality in a virtual space and applies data obtained through simulations back to the real world. Since various simulations can be run without constraints such as space and cost, the application areas are expanding in manufacturing, urban planning, and more. Singapore has already transferred the entire city into a 3D virtual space using digital twins and utilizes it for essential infrastructure operations.

Vibe Company is a 'small but strong' player in the domestic digital twin field. The company was selected as the lead digital twin contractor for the Sejong and Busan smart city national pilot city projects in 2019. This achievement came just one year after entering digital twin technology development in 2018. Since last year, it has also been building the 'LH Digital Twin Platform' in collaboration with Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH). This platform is applied to the 3rd phase new towns that LH is constructing in Incheon, Goyang, Namyangju, and other areas. Jae-yong Lee, CEO of Vibe Company, explained, "By building a virtual city according to urban planning and running simulations 365 days a year, we can predict and prevent potential problems in advance," adding, "It is possible to address minor issues such as discovering places where sunlight does not reach after constructing buildings, as well as disaster prevention."

Vive Company is building the 'LH Digital Twin Platform' together with Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH). This platform will be applied to the 3rd generation new towns such as Incheon and Goyang.
[Photo by Vive Company]

AI Startup...Strong in Language Analysis

The company is a first-generation artificial intelligence (AI) firm in Korea. It started as an in-house venture of Daum Communications and spun off in 2000. Thanks to accumulating related technologies before the domestic AI market blossomed, Vibe Company's AI capabilities are considerable. The area where the company excels is language analysis using AI. This is because the company's origin was in developing AI for text analysis used in portal search services.

AI business has been a solid pillar supporting the company. The AI-based big data analysis solution 'SomeTrend' is a representative example. SomeTrend is a service that extracts trending keywords on social networking services (SNS) and provides real-time data on mention volumes through the company's AI platform 'Sophia.' It has shown an annual sales growth rate of over 10%, playing a significant role as the company's 'cash cow.' The company also offers consulting services based on big data analysis. Song Gil-young, Vice President of Vibe Company, who became known as a 'big data expert' through broadcasts, leads the consulting division.

The strength of the digital twin solutions provided by the company also lies in AI. This is why it was able to outperform formidable IT conglomerates in several bids. CEO Lee said, "Ultimately, the company's core technology lies in AI-based big data analysis that finds human emotions," adding, "I believe it has created a synergy effect with digital twins, which are based on spatial understanding."

'Natural Language Processing Laboratory' of Vibe Company located in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul.
Photo by Lee Junhyung

Tripled Customers in 4 Years...Metaverse Platform Launch 'Just Around the Corner'

Thanks to its technological prowess, the company's performance has been on the rise. The number of customers secured by the company recently stands at 540. Compared to 2016 (185 customers), the number of customers has nearly tripled in the past four years. In the first half of this year, the company recorded sales of 17.9 billion KRW, more than doubling compared to the same period last year.

Digital twins are considered a core project of the Korean New Deal promoted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. According to the 2021 National Spatial Information Policy Implementation Plan announced in April this year, the government will invest 298.6 billion KRW in 57 central government projects related to digital twins. Additionally, 148.2 billion KRW will be invested in 743 local government projects. The sales volume of the company's digital twin solution 'AI Solver,' which is B2G (business to government) focused, reflects these changes. The sales proportion of AI Solver last year was 69%, a significant increase from 50% the previous year.

Lee Jae-yong, CEO of Vibe Company.
[Photo by Vibe Company]

The company plans to unveil the metaverse platform 'Vibe Square (tentative name)' early next year. It differentiates itself from existing metaverses such as Zepeto and Roblox by integrating digital twins. While metaverses basically allow users to communicate with others through avatars in spaces that do not exist in reality, Vibe Square transfers real-world spaces as they are.

The company plans to implement various cities starting with Seoul by utilizing public data and more. CEO Lee stated, "As a mirror-world type metaverse, it has competitiveness compared to existing platforms," adding, "When the metaverse era arrives, people will make restaurant reservations and more in places like Vibe Square instead of the internet."