It has been confirmed that Softbank Chairman Sohn Jung-eui invested 200 billion won to restructure Louis, an artificial intelligence (AI) education solution startup called “the second Coupang,” with the management team.
According to related industries on the 16th, Ruid has recently started to meet with employees individually to receive voluntary retirement in order to improve management efficiency. As the company rapidly expanded after receiving about 200 billion won from Softbank last year, Ruid reportedly evaluated whether there are any organizations with unnecessary functions internally. In particular, there is a consensus that they could not focus on technology and services because they were too focused on marketing, so they will start a major reorganization to significantly reduce marketing functions.
However, it is said that the restructuring of Ruid is unusual. In May last year, Ruid attracted about 200 billion won worth of Series D investment from “Vision Fund 2” led by Chairman Sohn Jung-eui, drawing keen attention from the market. The cumulative investment attracted from major investors such as Korea Development Bank, IMM Investment, and DSC Investment amounts to about 284 billion won. The corporate value is close to 1 trillion won, and although it has not been disclosed, sales are reported to be around tens of billions of won per year.
In response, Rued CEO Jang Young-joon (photo) said, “The recent restructuring of the company is a measure to streamline management by setting a new business direction to focus on technology and services,” adding, “It is true that we are having a lot of interviews (for retirement) with workers who have lowered importance, but it has nothing to do with fund liquidity problems.”
