GoodGang Labs

GoodGang Labs, a Singapore-based company founded in 2021, is developing an avatar-based communication platform for the metaverse. The company was established by a team of co-founders with extensive experience at major tech firms including Dookyung Ahn, the CEO, who previously worked at Facebook and LINE; Jaecheol Kim, a co-founder of Seerslab; and Seoyoung Kim, who was an Art Team Lead at Facebook. The team's background also includes experts from Google and Snow.

The firm's core business revolves around connecting humans and AI through avatars, aiming to foster deeper human connections in the digital realm. GoodGang Labs operates on a multifaceted business model, targeting both consumers and businesses. For consumers, the company is developing 'Kiki Town', a 3D avatar communication platform where users can interact in real-time using their own NFT avatars or those provided by the platform. A key feature of Kiki Town is its lightweight nature; it transmits only voice and avatar motion data, creating an efficient and immersive 3D environment. The platform also incorporates a "Talk to Earn" model, allowing users to monetize their conversations. For the business-to-business (B2B) market, GoodGang Labs provides its human-to-avatar technology as a Software as a Service (SaaS) API. The company has also ventured into the retail sector by opening a flagship store in Seoul, where customers can interact with and purchase items through an AI avatar voice agent at a kiosk.

GoodGang Labs has secured a total of $2 million in funding over two seed rounds. Key investors include Kakao Investment, Naver D2 Startup Factory, Naver Z, Kimgisa Lab, and Planetarium. A significant milestone was the complete sell-out of their 'BeerGang' NFT collection, which consisted of 3,333 unique items, on LINE's NFT marketplace. The company is also developing 'GangHouse for Web3', a technology enabling real-time conversations using NFTs as a medium. GoodGang Labs is focusing on developing generative AI deep learning models, such as Text2Avatar and Speech2Avatar, to create more natural and dynamic avatar expressions from text or audio inputs. The company launched a beta of Kiki Town in late 2023 and plans for global expansion in 2025 after initial rollouts in Korea and Japan.

Keywords: avatar communication, metaverse platform, AI avatar, human-to-avatar technology, NFT, 3D communication, virtual interaction, Kiki Town, GangHouse, Web3 communication, SaaS, voice agent, digital identity, Talk to Earn, generative AI, virtual environment, avatar marketplace, social software, augmented reality, deep learning