Paradot, the company behind the AI photo platform ‘Carat,’ has secured a Series A investment of 2 billion KRW($1.7M) from Hana Ventures. This comes just about two years after a seed investment from Mashup Angels in November 2021.

‘Carat’ provides various AI photo services, including AI profiles, pop-up stores, and an AI drawing board, all offered for free. Users can easily create AI photos in diverse styles using template-based tools. Carat quickly grew to become the largest AI photo creation service in Korea, surpassing 6 million monthly photo creation requests within six months of launching the AI profile service. The platform now boasts over 2 million cumulative users.

Led by CEO Jang Jin-wook, Paradot plans to use the funding to establish a creator-centric AI photo ecosystem, enabling everyone to effortlessly create, share, and sell AI photo filters. This aims to expand its influence and scale as a B2C AI photo creation platform.

The Hana Ventures representative leading the investment commented, “The global surge in generative AI-driven photo/video content creation positions Carat as the next major player after Snapchat/Instagram. Carat’s effective strategy of reducing technical barriers for general users in generative AI content creation, coupled with a focus on maximizing creativity, is expected to make a significant impact. Paradot’s strengths lie in their deep understanding of user needs and their ability to swiftly execute.”

Jang Jin-wook, CEO of Paradot, expressed, “Generative AI has garnered high expectations for its productivity benefits, but it’s also a technology that can bring substantial innovations to our daily lives and entertainment. Contrary to the misconception that B2C AI photo services are short-lived trends, Carat has firmly established itself as a service used by customers on a daily basis. We plan to continue providing services that consistently satisfy our customers from their perspective.”