Alchera, top video recognition AI company in Korea (347860)

Alchera is a leading video company in Korea. Let's find out more about what they do.

1. Overview

Founded in 2016 by Kim Jung-bae and Hwang Young-kyu.

1.1 Current CEO: Hwang Young-kyu
Previous work experience:
SK Future Technology Institute
Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology

1.2 Previous CEO: Kim Jung-bae
Ph.D. in Electronics Engineering from KAIST in 2004
Worked on AI and AR technology development at Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology from 2003 to 2016
Founded Alchera in 2016

2. Business Areas

2.1 Face recognition (non-face-to-face authentication service)
2.2 Abnormal situation detection (intelligent CCTV)
2.3 Data analysis
2.4 Largest NFT marketplace "Pala" in Korea (joint venture between Alchera and Naver's Snow)

3. Governance Structure

3.1 Snow owns 11.73% of Alchera (Snow is Alchera's largest shareholder, and Naver is Snow's largest shareholder)
3.2 Kim Jung-bae owns 9.32%
3.3 Hwang Young-kyu owns 9.18%

4. Features

- Connected to Naver, with Snow as Alchera's largest shareholder
- Provides technology to Snow, a popular app owned by the largest shareholder of Naver
- High level of technology, the only domestic company ranked in the top tier of facial recognition technology worldwide
- Financial structure is not good due to being listed under the technology special listing. Although several years have passed since the listing, it continues to operate in deficit.
- Acquired authentication solution company "USEB" in 2021. Attempts to enter new businesses by establishing a corporation in the healthcare industry in 2022.
- Charges on a monthly basis as an intelligent CCTV service
- Low ownership by the founders (both are under 10%)
- Owns "Pala," the largest NFT marketplace in Korea, in a joint venture with Snow.
- Recently, Alchera has risen due to the increase in AI-related stocks caused by ChatGPT (as of February 2023).

5. Investment Points

5.1 Benefit from the government-led replacement of AI intelligent CCTV by 2027
5.2 Providing CCTV monitoring solutions for US wildfire surveillance
5.3 Providing non-face-to-face authentication services through subsidiary USEB (face recognition business)

6. Summary

Although Alchera went public with video recognition as its main business, it has been operating at a deficit and is exploring various businesses to remedy this.

7. Comparable Companies

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#Selvas AI (108860): a performance-oriented speech recognition AI company