Wrtn Technologies raised $72.2 million in a Series C round at a valuation between $722 million and $870 million, announced on August 25, 2026 and led by Coreline Ventures and Eugene Asset Management. It's the first Korean AI service startup to cross a 1 trillion won valuation.
Here's the full breakdown of the raise, the backers, and why it matters for Korea's AI industry.
What is Wrtn Technologies?
Wrtn Technologies builds an AI aggregation platform that combines multiple large language models — including GPT-4, Claude and Gemini — into consumer-friendly interfaces. Its two primary products are OOC, an interactive storytelling anime platform, and Crack, an AI character chat app focused on the Korean market. Founded in 2021 by Lee Se-young, Lee Dong-jae, Youngjoon Yoo and Sungwon Jae, Wrtn built its business on packaging other companies' models rather than training its own foundation model.
The raise: $72.2M Series C
The headline numbers:
- Amount: $72.2 million
- Round: Series C
- Valuation: $722 million to $870 million (roughly 1 trillion won)
- Announced: August 25, 2026
- Lead investors: Coreline Ventures, Eugene Asset Management
Wrtn's path here included a seed round in November 2022, a ₩25 billion ($18.3 million) pre-Series B in June 2024, and a ₩108 billion ($73.5 million) Series B in March 2025. Crossing the 1 trillion won mark with this Series C makes Wrtn the first Korean AI service startup to reach that milestone.
Who invested in Wrtn Technologies?
The round was led by Coreline Ventures and Eugene Asset Management. Additional participants included:
- Goodwater Capital
- Antler Global
- Korea Development Bank
What Wrtn Technologies will do with the money
Wrtn said the funding will support international expansion across East Asia, GPU infrastructure and compute scaling, hiring specialized NLP engineering talent, multi-modal application development, and building safety guardrails for teenage users.
Why it matters
- It's a milestone for Korea's AI ecosystem. Being the first Korean AI service startup to top a 1 trillion won valuation validates that consumer AI businesses built outside the US and China can still reach unicorn-plus scale — a trend also visible across the biggest AI funding rounds of 2026.
- The aggregation model is proving out commercially. Wrtn's OOC platform generated roughly ₩10 billion ($7.2 million) in monthly revenue within three months of its North American launch, suggesting that packaging existing LLMs into character-driven consumer products can compete with proprietary model builders, a pattern also seen at June AI.
- Consumer AI entertainment is showing real growth. Wrtn is projecting revenue to roughly quadruple year over year, from ₩47.1 billion in 2025 to over ₩200 billion in 2026, adding to the broader momentum behind AI agents funding in 2026.
Source: Wrtn raises $72 million in Series C funding round
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