Kakao Ventures Invests in Intellicia, an AI Synthetic-Consumer Technology Startup [fn Market Watch]

[Financial News] Intellicia, an AI synthetic-consumer technology startup, has secured Kakao Ventures as its lead investor and closed a 3.4 billion won pre-Series A funding round. The round was oversubscribed, exceeding its target of 3 billion won. The company’s technology compresses consumer research that once took weeks to months into just a few hours by recruiting panels of thousands of people. It has been viewed as having met the standards of financial investors (FIs).
According to investment banking (IB) industry sources on the 2nd, Kakao Ventures participated as the lead investor in Intellicia’s pre-Series A round. Murex Partners and Capstone Partners also joined as co-investors. Founder and CEO Baek Seung-guk invested his own money as well. It is uncommon for founders to put personal funds into a subsequent round at the pre-Series A stage. The market interprets the move as a so-called skin-in-the-game structure that aligns the interests of the founder and FIs.
Intellicia operates The Survey, an AI research platform that uses AI trained on real consumer data to generate hundreds of thousands of virtual consumers, or synthetic consumers, who respond to surveys and interviews. The platform removes bottlenecks in traditional research, from study design and response collection to results analysis. Its key competitive advantage is the ability to repeatedly validate findings whenever needed, fundamentally changing the speed of new-product development and marketing decisions.
The basis for the investment decision was its references. Intellicia has conducted more than 130 customer projects and proof-of-concept (PoC) tests with major Korean companies, including CJ CheilJedang, Pulmuone, Lotte Wellfood, Fursys Group, LG Uplus, and BGF Retail. It accumulated more than 200 cases in the first half of this year alone, the largest number in Korea. More than 60% of customers that completed PoCs moved on to annual contracts. Given that paid conversion and repurchase rates are among the most closely watched indicators in valuing early-stage companies, these figures became a strong negotiating advantage, the company explained.
Intellicia plans to launch a global SaaS platform in the fourth quarter and make a full-scale entry next year into advanced research markets such as the United States and Japan. The company is working to improve revenue predictability by shifting from project-based sales to a subscription model. It is also expanding into simulation beyond research. Parastore, an AI store digital-twin solution where synthetic consumers shop directly, is preparing for testing with BGF Retail, which operates CU. The company plans to broaden its business into simulations beyond consumer research, including product planning, merchandising, and store operations.
Jang Dong-wook, an executive vice president at Kakao Ventures, said, "Baek Seung-guk, whom Kakao Ventures has watched since its early investment in Dable, is a capable entrepreneur who grew an AI-based personalized recommendation platform into a business-to-business (B2B) product, generating revenue in the tens of billions of won, and went on to achieve a successful sale and global expansion. Intellicia has expertise in consumer research and enterprise sales, and has proven its performance through repeated use by major consumer-goods companies. We expect it to turn AI synthetic consumers into an always-on testing layer for corporate decision-making and expand into global markets."
Baek Seung-guk, CEO of Intellicia, said, "Through this investment, we will create a more differentiated technological edge in the world simulation field and help our clients expand overseas and successfully launch products. We will become a decision-making solutions company that explores and simulates new demand rather than limiting ourselves to surveys."

[email protected] Kang Gu-gwi Reporter