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Recently recognized as a unicorn with a corporate valuation exceeding 1 trillion won, AI service company Ratton Technologies(hereinafter Ratton) has officially begun preparations for an IPO (initial public offering).
On the 2nd, Ratton announced that it had sent Request for Proposal (RFP) documents to major domestic securities firms to select an IPO lead underwriter. A Ratton official stated, "We plan to finalize the selection of a lead underwriter and confirm details by the end of this month, with the goal of listing next year or later."
Founded in 2021, Ratton operates the AI portal 'Ratton' and the AI character chat service 'Crack'. Last year, total revenue reached 47.1 billion won. Recently, it secured a Series C investment of 100 billion won, officially becoming a unicorn (a private company with a corporate valuation exceeding 1 trillion won).
Prior to this, Ratton completed a Series B fundraising round totaling 108 billion won, including 25 billion won from the Pre-Series B stage. At that time, its corporate valuation was reported to be in the mid-300 billion won range. Through this Series C round, the corporate valuation nearly tripled within a year and a half.
The driver of growth has been overseas operations. The AI entertainment content platform 'OOC (Out of Character)', launched in North America last May, surpassed 10 billion won in monthly revenue within three months, with overseas sales from countries including the United States and Japan now exceeding domestic sales. OOC provides content through a role-playing format where users converse with AI characters to create their own stories.
In Korea, Crack is driving paid revenue. Crack was launched as a standalone service in April last year, having been separated from the character chat function within the Ratton app. In Japan, it operates 'Kyara-fu', a service with a structure similar to Crack.
Ratton expects total revenue this year to exceed 200 billion won, driven by overall growth in its overseas business. This represents more than four times last year's revenue. To address social responsibilities associated with the growth of its AI character chat business and enhance AI usage safety, Ratton is preparing to introduce strengthened youth protection policies. Detailed plans are expected to be announced this month.
Lee Se-young, CEO of Ratton, emphasized, "Building on trust in the capital markets, we will achieve greater growth on a broader global stage," adding, "In this process, we will ensure no negligence in creating safe and trustworthy AI services for users."
[MoneyToday startup media platform 'Unicorn Factory']
in FUTURE
