Korean AI companion app WRTN hits unicorn status on 4x revenue growth

WRTN Technologies has raised about $72 million at a valuation above $1 billion. Its revenue is projected to reach 200 billion won this year, roughly four times last year’s 47.1 billion won. That growth matters, but the more useful lesson is where the money is coming from.

WRTN keeps practical tools like AI search, document help, and presentation creation free. All of its paid revenue comes from AI-character chat. In other words, users may try productivity features, but they’re choosing to pay for an experience built around conversation, personality, and ongoing engagement. Its character chat business is also now generating more revenue overseas than in Korea, through brands including Crack, Charaful, and OOC.

For business owners, this is a reminder not to assume the feature that gets the most attention is the feature people will pay for. Free tools can bring people into your product. The paid offer needs to solve a stronger problem, create repeat use, or offer something customers don’t see as interchangeable.

If you’re building AI into your own business, track the path from first use to payment by feature, customer type, and market. This is the kind of thing we build into an AI command centre, so you can see what is actually producing revenue rather than just generating activity.