People & Technology raises ₩6 billion from five investors

Enterprise AI services company People & Technology announced on the 27th that it had raised a total of KRW 6 billion from Kiwoom Investment, Danal Investment Partners, Dongmoon Partners, SL Investment, and KB Investment.

Since introducing Korea’s first IoT-based indoor location services (LBS, RTLS) technology, People & Technology has led ongoing innovation and the market for enterprise digital transformation solutions built on its AIoT service platform. In 2022, it also successfully developed and commercialized AI CCTV vision technology, further strengthening its position as an Enterprise AI services company.

A leader in hospital digitalization, the company has supplied IndoorPlus+ SmartCare, an IoMT (Internet of Medical Things)-based hospital digitalization solution, since 2019. It ranks first in Korea in the smart hospital solutions sector.

IndoorPlus+ SmartCare is an IoMT platform that improves hospital operations. It connects wearable medical devices, nursing vital-sign monitors, and other equipment to collect, store, and analyze hospital data. Since 2021, People & Technology has combined AI with its IoMT platform—which has proven reliable at numerous large hospitals—to address operational pain points with data-driven smart services. Building on these results, the company has supplied smart hospital solutions to more than 30 hospitals.

Following this investment, the company plans to shift to a software subscription business model, starting with healthcare, and improve its overall value chain, including the service-level maturity of its products.

Small and midsize general hospitals and long-term care hospitals across Korea are keen to adopt ICT-driven innovation but prefer subscription models because they lack IT management staff. In addition, about 80,000 Wi-Fi access points are scheduled for replacement at 81 general hospitals from 2022 to 2026. These market conditions present an opportunity for People & Technology to transition to a software subscription model.

People & Technology established its AI Lab in 2020 to create new value by combining AI with its IoT platform. As Korea’s leading provider of AIoT service platforms, it has addressed diverse customer needs and on-the-ground demands, and has prepared to take a new step forward as an Enterprise AI service platform by applying AI to its accumulated data and expertise.

People & Technology’s AI Lab, which is driving AI-powered innovation, consists entirely of R&D staff, with no research support personnel. Its team is made up of master’s and doctoral degree holders, primarily in mathematics—a key discipline in the AI era.

After spending two years developing ultra-lightweight AI models, People & Technology’s AI Lab launched a commercial product in June 2022 that embeds an ultra-lightweight AI model in an AI semiconductor-based CCTV system from a global CCTV company. The technology runs AI software on an AI SoC chip built into the camera and analyzes video data in real time directly on the device, without a separate AI box or expensive AI server. It is gaining attention as an innovative system that could change the paradigm of existing AI video analytics.

People & Technology signed a supply agreement for its ultra-lightweight AI models with a global CCTV company. The models will be applied primarily to parking, traffic, and personal privacy-masking services. Starting in 2023, the company plans to enter the global AI video analytics market as well as the domestic market.

In August 2022, People & Technology was also selected as a company supporting public procurement partnerships in the CCTV sector. In Korea’s public sector, it plans to target the end-to-end finished-product market with reliable AI CCTV hardware, ultra-lightweight AI models, and platform application services, bringing further innovation to the domestic AI vision market.

People & Technology plans to expand investment in AI software with the proceeds from this funding round. It aims to grow into an AI technology company that meets enterprise customers’ unmet needs by expanding and continuously enhancing its range of intelligent AI software, including ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition), MMCR (Traffic AI SW), DPM (Dynamic Privacy Masking), and Healthcare Data AI.

Hong Seong-pyo, co-CEO who led the investment round, said, “I’m grateful to the investors who joined us and recognized People & Technology’s business performance and growth potential, even as the global investment environment becomes more challenging amid the economic downturn. We will continue to do our best to strengthen our position as an Enterprise AI service platform company that leads digitalization across industries.”

People & Technology: https://pntbiz.co.kr/