AI food tech company ControlM (CEO Won Jong-kwan) announced on the 16th that it has secured a total of 2.5 billion won in funding through a Pre-A round. This additional funding comes just 10 months after receiving seed funding from Translink Investment and MY Social Company (MYSC) in December of last year. This brings ControlM's total investment to 4.5 billion won.
ControlM, addressing the high restaurant industry failure rate, is digitizing the entire restaurant operation process and developing and operating "RestoGenie," an AI-powered solution. This solution integrates essential restaurant operations functions, including ordering, delivery, marketing, staffing, and data management, and is built as an AI platform specifically for restaurant operators.
The company is also diversifying its business by launching its own F&B brand, "SlamBurger." Currently operating branches in Gangnam and Daehakro, the company announced that applying Restogeni's AI marketing solution and vision cameras to the Gangnam branch has resulted in approximately a doubling of sales and profits, with a 41% purchase conversion rate for customers.
"Restaurant Genie" plans to launch a franchise-specific version this year, focusing on three core functions essential for the restaurant industry, including marketing. Next year, it plans to expand the functionality to eight and upgrade to a B2C version that can also be utilized by general restaurant operators.
With this investment, ControlM plans to advance its vertically specialized large-scale language model (LLM) and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)-based technologies, and strengthen its big data-based services that enable restaurant workers to make key decisions through a chat-based interface.
“We focused on the fact that a solution like Restogeni did not exist in Korea and its effectiveness in improving restaurant operational efficiency,” said Kwon Yu-jin, a partner at Translink Investment. “It is evaluated as a technology that drives sales growth in the restaurant industry, and we anticipate its potential to enter the global market.”
ControlM CEO Won Jong-kwan stated, “Based on this investment, we will accelerate technological advancement and global expansion,” and “With AI-based solutions, we will support improved profit structures and sustainable management for restaurant workers.”
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