[비즈한국] "The name is not Louis, not Lee, but Wrtn." Recently, generative AI startup Wrtn Technologies, which grabbed public attention with an advertisement featuring singer G-Dragon, is now drawing industry spotlight for its collaboration with a global big tech company. This follows the announcement of a strategic partnership with Google Cloud on September 1st. In July, the company was also named in the '2025 Korea Fast-Growth Startup 50' by Forbes, solidifying its reputation as a 'next-generation AI unicorn.'
Industry eyes are also fixed on CEO Lee Se-young, born in 1996, who leads Wrtn. Recently, CEO Lee participated in the 'Youth Startup Imagination Concert' hosted by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and held a talk concert with President Lee Jae-myung.
Character
CEO Lee Se-young, who leads Wrtn Technologies, is just 28 years old (born 1996) and is considered a next-generation leader bridging technology and entrepreneurship. In 2024, he became the first Korean entrepreneur to be named to the '2024 Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia' list in the Consumer Technology category. During high school, he founded the Korea Youth Conference (KSCY) and was known for being the final remaining contestant on the KBS show 'Challenge! Golden Bell.' He was also a member of the South Korean national American football team from 2017 to 2018. He is currently enrolled in the Department of Library and Information Science at Yonsei University.
Career
CEO Lee Se-young, who attracts attention for his diverse background, co-founded Wrtn Technologies in 2021. While it started as a natural language processing-based writing assistance service, it quickly secured a differentiated strategy by offering a variety of generative AI models. Within about two years of its launch, Wrtn surpassed 2 million cumulative subscribers, and by June 2024, the number of users exceeded 3.7 million. He also serves as the chairman of the Generative AI Startup Association, which was launched in 2023.
Capability
The Wrtn platform, founded by CEO Lee Se-young, is one of the early AI startups in Korea, aiming to build a "killer service" and offering various types of tools. Users can select and utilize specific tools for tasks such as summarizing, drafting PPTs, creating social media posts, and preparing for job interviews.
In December 2023, the company announced an innovative policy: "Total Free Access." As a result, all of Wrtn's services are available for free. Beyond Wrtn's own services, users can also use various generative AI programs within the platform for free. Notably, OpenAI's flagship model, GPT-5, can be used without limits within Wrtn.
Thanks to such startup-style innovative services, Wrtn's user base is growing rapidly. Some observe that its Monthly Active Users (MAU) will soon reach 10 million. Wrtn Technologies is the only Korean AI startup to scale at such a rapid pace.
With the recent announcement of strengthened AI partnership with Google Cloud, it appears that Wrtn's AI models and infrastructure will expand while security is enhanced. Furthermore, the viral advertisement featuring popular singer G-Dragon has significantly boosted public awareness of Wrtn.
Critical
Despite its rapid growth, stabilizing profitability is pointed out as the biggest challenge. Since the company offers a completely free service, the key is how to secure a long-term revenue model. In particular, as competition in the generative AI market intensifies, maintaining proprietary technology and service differentiation is essential. While the free access to GPT-5 is well-received by users, questions remain about its sustainability, given the integration costs the company must bear. Wrtn began pursuing AI monetization last October by introducing partial paid features to its 'Character Chat' service.
Challenges
The next task for CEO Lee Se-young is to establish Wrtn as an 'AI platform for daily life.' At a press conference in April, where he unveiled Wrtn 3.0, CEO Lee stated, "Wrtn will go beyond generative AI and be reborn as an AI for daily life."
At the 'Youth Startup Imagination Concert' attended by President Lee Jae-myung on September 17, CEO Lee predicted, "While there are many business-oriented agents right now, life-oriented agents will spread in earnest within the next year."
What matters is market share. In South Korea, where half of smartphone users utilize generative AI applications, the key is how much of a presence Wrtn can establish. According to WiseApp/Retail/Goods, a specialist in app and retail analysis, the user market share for generative AI apps as of May was: ChatGPT at 72.6%, Wrtn at 10.2%, A. (Adot) at 6.5%, and Perplexity at 5.7%. With ChatGPT holding a majority share, how much the Korean company Wrtn can catch up will be the true 'challenge' for CEO Lee Se-young.