Aidro Breaks into US Market with Car Tuning Technology

Yudongwan CEO "Focusing on Body Kits This Year, Complete Cars Next Year"
Quality Improved Through Digitalized Development Process... Emphasizing Exports
"Jungjingong Youth-Only Startup Fund... A Decisive Help"

Yoo Dong-wan, CEO of Aider (left), and Yoon Seung-hyun, Director, are discussing the development process of Bodykit.

"The start is with body kits, but the goal is to ultimately produce mass-produced cars." There was confidence in the voice of Yudongwan, CEO of Aidro. The basis for this confidence is the technology that has revolutionized the market in Korea, which was once a barren land for the automobile tuning industry. Confident in their technology, they have ambitions not just to modify parts but to build entire cars. Aidro has already proven its technological prowess by entering the U.S. market, the birthplace of automobile tuning, and achieving results.

On the 22nd, CEO Yu said, "Ultimately, the primary goal is to produce complete cars, not just body kits," adding, "This year, we will focus on body kits, and next year, we plan to prepare for complete cars." Body kits refer to all devices attached to improve a car in terms of performance enhancement or design. A complete car (tuning finished car) is a concept of creating a new car by tuning. The industry explains that only by possessing the best technology for making body kits can one challenge the production of complete cars.

Founded in 2020, the startup Aidro has attracted attention in the domestic tuning industry. CEO Yu and Director Yoon Seunghyun, who have built careers in the mass-produced car industry, joined forces, and designer Lee Yongwon, who participated in the Maybach concept car, also joined. They digitalized the development process in the traditionally handmade automobile tuning body kit industry to improve quality and developed products that enhance automobile performance by utilizing Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) technology. They also conducted research on improving automobile performance using artificial intelligence through industry-academic cooperation with KAIST's Department of Aerospace Engineering. CEO Yu explained, "We possess innovative development capabilities, such as applying CFD technology in the body kit field," and added, "For example, by installing Aidro body kits, one can expect improved grip and enhanced driving stability."

Despite having technological capability and business potential, establishing a foothold in the market was not easy. As an early-stage youth startup with insufficient collateral, securing funds necessary for development was a challenge. A decisive help came from the Youth-Exclusive Startup Fund of the Small and Medium Business Corporation. In 2020, Aidro received 100 million KRW from the Youth-Exclusive Startup Fund, along with follow-up support such as mentoring and market access assistance. The following year, they also received the Innovation Startup Commercialization Fund. Through this, they were able to innovate the development process by efficiently combining traditional technologies such as 3D scanning, 3D printing, virtual reality (VR), and carbon molding with the latest technologies. Sales also nearly tripled from 640 million KRW in 2020 to 1.8 billion KRW last year.

Aidro is now focusing on pioneering overseas markets. In addition to establishing a U.S. corporation, they are exporting to countries including Saudi Arabia, Australia, Canada, Poland, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). During this process, they also received support from the Small and Medium Business Corporation’s Domestic Company Export Support Fund. Results are already emerging. Last year, export performance increased to 500,000 USD. They also received seed investment from Strong Ventures, a venture capital firm based in the U.S. CEO Yu said, "Currently, we are focused on Korean car models, but we plan to expand the market to German Big Three vehicles and Japanese cars in the future."