RIAD Corporation, a South Korean startup building AI-powered solutions for the global travel industry, has secured a seed bridge investment from Sazze Partners, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm. The size of the deal was not disclosed.

The company plans to use the fresh capital to accelerate its expansion in North America and other global markets, while advancing its AI agent technology to strengthen its competitive position. RIAD Corporation operates “Ria Travel,” a B2B travel services platform that has been the foundation of its growth. From the outset, the company has built AI into its core architecture — a design philosophy aimed at simultaneously improving operational efficiency and the customer experience.

Despite being an early-stage startup, RIAD Corporation already generates more than 90% of its revenue from international markets, with North America as its primary base. The company has been gaining wider recognition as well: in January, it was selected as one of the startup representatives accompanying South Korea’s presidential economic delegation to China, and it ranked in the national Top 15 of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups’ K-Startup Challenge in 2025.

The company recently raised the bar further with the launch of “Yeyak,” a SaaS platform powered entirely by AI agent technology. Designed for B2B clients in the travel sector — including travel agencies, corporate travel management companies, and online travel agencies (OTAs) — Yeyak automates a broad range of operational tasks such as complex reservation lookups, itinerary changes and cancellations, customer communications, and back-office workflows. Unlike conventional chatbots that handle simple queries, Yeyak’s AI agents autonomously navigate multi-step workflows end to end.

Sazze Partners expressed confidence in RIAD Corporation’s direction, noting that the company has a deep understanding of the B2B travel market — one of the slowest sectors to undergo digital transformation — and has remained laser-focused on solving its most persistent pain points. The VC firm said it plans to actively support RIAD as it scales its AI-native strategy across global markets.

“Yeyak, our newly launched platform, is set to become a benchmark for AI capability in the K-Travel industry,” said Byeongju Lee, CEO of RIAD Corporation. “With this investment, we will build the infrastructure needed to lead the AI transformation of the global travel industry.”