Kakao Brain Recruiting Startups for 'Karlo 100X Program' Participation

Kakao Brain announced on the 13th that it is recruiting companies to participate in the ‘Karlo 100X Program’ aimed at expanding the domestic generative artificial intelligence ecosystem and developing innovative generative AI model services.

The ‘Karlo 100X Program’ is a project that supports startups in creating more than 100 times the value by utilizing Karlo, an image-generative AI model developed by Kakao Brain.

Kakao Brain established this program to enable domestic startups to provide innovative experiences to consumers by leveraging its ultra-large image generation model, Karlo. By providing generative AI technology and infrastructure that startups find difficult to secure, the program aims to lay the foundation for a generative AI-centered service ecosystem while discovering various business opportunities for mutual growth with startups based on its image generation AI model, Karlo.

Kakao Brain will recruit participating companies throughout the year, dividing them into two categories: ‘lead players in specific industries or companies possessing proprietary data’ and ‘early-stage startups.’ Selection will be based on criteria such as ▲ potential for utilizing Karlo technology ▲ contribution of accumulated data to industry and model development ▲ measures to address and prevent ethical issues. Selected companies will receive benefits including ▲ strategic equity investment ▲ technical consulting and support ▲ access to the latest version of the Karlo model ▲ usage rights for Brain Cloud, a cloud infrastructure specialized for generative AI.

Kakao Brain plans to continuously introduce services that provide new experiences to users in collaboration with startups selected for the ‘Karlo 100X Program,’ and within the year, it will also conduct a 100X program centered on ‘KoGPT,’ Kakao Brain’s Korean language model.

Kim Il-du, CEO of Kakao Brain, said, “The ‘Karlo 100X Program’ started from the idea that we can create new innovations by collaborating with startups based on Karlo technology,” adding, “We hope many startups seeking explosive growth will show great interest and apply by utilizing Kakao Brain’s world-class technology and infrastructure.”