[Interview] Countdn.AI CEO Sanghee Kim: Redefining Everyday Life with Generative AI

A New Wave in Generative AI Content: Making AI Intuitive and Accessible to Everyone

The next wave of the generative AI content market is moving toward intuitive AI that anyone can use with ease. We are entering an era where users can create high-quality images simply by uploading a single photo—without writing text prompts—and complete editing and enhancement with just a few clicks. Content creation is no longer the exclusive domain of professionals.

Against this backdrop, Korean startup Countdn.AI is rapidly gaining attention with its generative AI super app, MeeAww, which has reached 1.5 million cumulative global users across 190 countries and generated more than 33 million AI images. More than 85% of its revenue comes from overseas markets, demonstrating the company's ability to monetize successfully on a global scale.

By prioritizing usability over technology and practicality over entertainment, MeeAww is attracting Gen Z and millennial users around the world. The company is establishing a competitive edge through its proprietary image-based AI engine and highly intuitive UX.

Building on MeeAww's success, Countdn.AI plans to launch Plumic, an AI marketing agent, at the end of March. Plumic allows users to select a reference design or campaign example, after which AI automatically generates advertising creatives optimized for the characteristics of each platform. The service aims to deliver “smart marketing powered by AI.”

We spoke with Sanghee Kim, CEO of Countdn.AI, and Devante Chang, Co-founder and CCO, about the company's founding story, technology, monetization strategy, and vision of becoming a global No. 1 app.

Q: Could you introduce Countdn.AI and MeeAww?

A: Countdn.AI is a startup founded in February 2024 with the goal of creating generative AI services that naturally integrate into people's everyday lives.

Our flagship service, MeeAww, is a generative AI super app designed to make AI content creation accessible to everyone. Instead of requiring complicated text prompts, MeeAww provides image-based prompts and an intuitive UX that allows even non-experts to create AI-generated content easily.

Since its launch, the service has rapidly expanded to 190 countries, reaching 1.5 million cumulative active users and generating more than 33 million AI images to date.

Q: How does MeeAww differentiate itself through technology and UX?

A: MeeAww's core strengths are our proprietary MAI2I (Image-to-Image) AI technology and intuitive UX, which allow users to generate results using just a single image without entering text prompts.

Our biggest differentiator is accessibility. Anyone can create high-quality AI content with minimal effort.

The technology goes beyond simply enhancing photos. It is being expanded into a wide range of everyday content, including AI photo cards, fandom content, profile images, and product imagery.

Under our vision of “creating content beyond photos,” we are continuing to grow toward our goal of becoming the world's No. 1 image-generation app.

Q: What value does MeeAww's AI Edit feature provide?

A: MeeAww's AI Edit is one of our core features, enabling users to enhance or transform photos to a professional level with just a few taps, without requiring complex editing skills.

Key capabilities include generative editing, which allows users to modify specific areas or add elements through text commands; background removal and replacement; and Magic Eraser, which removes unwanted elements and naturally fills in the surrounding area.

The entire experience is designed around one goal: dramatically reducing the time users spend editing content.

Q: What kind of impact has AI Enhance had on users?

A: AI Enhance automatically improves the limitations of photos taken by non-professionals, including low-resolution, poorly lit, and black-and-white images.

When designing this feature, our top priority was ensuring that anyone could achieve professional-quality results without any technical expertise.

It received particularly strong responses from global users who often use lower-spec smartphones. Within just three weeks of launch, AI Enhance attracted more than 100,000 users, demonstrating the strong demand for this type of functionality.

Users have responded very positively to the ability to achieve high-quality results without complicated controls or editing processes.

Q: How were you able to expand into 190 countries?

A: We designed the product with a global market in mind from the very beginning.

We simplified the UX to minimize language and regional barriers while simultaneously optimizing our App Store metadata in multiple languages.

Users also began voluntarily posting reviews and content about MeeAww on social media and YouTube, creating a powerful viral effect that accelerated our global expansion.

We saw rapid organic growth in countries including India, Indonesia, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Brazil. We tracked these user trends through data and used the insights to refine our target markets.

Q: How does your Image-to-Image technology work, and what makes it competitive?

A: Through our proprietary MAI2I technology, we can generate high-quality results using just a single image.

One of our key strengths is our fast and cost-efficient training architecture. We can train a new style within a single day, while the model itself is compact and highly optimized, allowing us to keep server costs relatively low.

Compared with competing solutions, we have also achieved a strong level of image quality. In particular, our technology can accurately reproduce not only people but also clothing and background elements.

We believe our technology is particularly well suited to everyday users because we have considered usability alongside AI performance from the beginning.

Q: How did you differentiate the UX for global users?

A: Our biggest differentiator is our image-first UX.

Most generative AI services require users to write complex text prompts. MeeAww, however, is designed so that users can simply upload a single image and automatically generate a variety of results.

We also recognize that preferences and trends vary significantly across cultures. MeeAww analyzes trends by country and provides AI themes tailored to users in different markets.

Because the product was designed with a multinational user base in mind from the beginning, we have been able to maintain strong user retention and reduce churn.

Q: How are you monetizing MeeAww?

A: MeeAww currently operates a combination of advertising and subscription-based monetization.

Ads are displayed during the generation process, while subscribers can remove advertisements through a recurring subscription. We are also monetizing selected premium features within AI Edit, AI Filters, and Wallpapers.

Going forward, we plan to expand into a B2B SaaS model through our AI API infrastructure. In particular, we aim to establish recurring revenue through API subscriptions in collaboration with companies in the e-commerce and entertainment industries.

Q: What is Plumic?

A: Plumic is a marketing agent built around the concept of “smart marketing powered by AI.”

The service automatically generates marketing strategies validated across different platforms and automates the entire process, from selecting a template to creating advertising creatives.

Users simply select a reference and go through a few simple steps to quickly create advertising content optimized for the characteristics of each platform.

After building a global user base and accumulating extensive experience operating generative AI services through MeeAww, we decided to leverage that experience and expand into the marketing space with Plumic.

Q: When will Plumic launch?

A: Plumic is targeting a late-March launch.

Initially, we will focus on making the workflow of “select a reference → automatically generate → optimize for each platform” as simple and fast as possible.

Over time, we plan to further enhance the platform by using actual campaign performance data to provide more sophisticated recommendations for ad copy, creative assets, and overall campaign structure.

Q: We understand that you have also strengthened your leadership team with C-level hires.

A: Yes. We have strengthened our leadership team to accelerate product development and global expansion.

As CCO (Chief Creative Officer), Devante Chang oversees UI/UX and brand design, helping elevate the overall quality of our products. He holds a bachelor's degree in Design from Portland State University and previously worked as a UI/UX designer at Naver, co-founded Amajor, and served as an Art Director at Anipang. He is responsible for developing creative and UX experiences tailored to a global audience.

Our CAIO (Chief AI Officer), Jinwoo Choi, leads our overall AI development. He holds a bachelor's degree in Physics from Seoul National University and has completed doctoral coursework in Data Science at SNU. With prior experience at SK hynix's R&D Center, he leads model optimization and AI performance enhancement.

Q: Why is becoming the global No. 1 such an important goal for you?

A: From the very beginning, we designed the company with the global market in mind.

We believed that the potential of AI technology could not be fully realized by focusing solely on the domestic Korean market.

Our goal of becoming the global No. 1 represents more than simply achieving a ranking. It reflects our commitment to creating an environment where anyone, anywhere in the world, can create content with AI as part of their everyday life.

To achieve this, we are continuously improving both usability and technology while expanding our real-world impact through localized UX strategies and SaaS expansion.

Q: How did you come up with the idea of using AI to create product images?

A: Product photography remains a costly and time-consuming process. It is an even greater burden for small businesses and individual creators.

We saw an opportunity to use AI to generate advertising-ready product images without requiring users to physically photograph their products.

Rather than simply removing backgrounds, we aim to differentiate the service by supporting advanced background composition and the addition of marketing-oriented text.

This functionality will eventually expand into a paid subscription-based B2B model, and we expect strong demand from the e-commerce market in particular.

Q: How do you understand your target users and apply those insights to the product?

A: Our core users are digitally native Gen Z and millennial consumers who are accustomed to consuming creative content.

They value not only entertainment but also quality and trends.

We analyze cultural preferences across different markets using local communities and real-world usage data, and continuously release themed AI concepts that reflect those insights.

Our CCO's experience working with K-pop and entertainment services also plays an important role in designing content optimized for a global audience.

Q: Finally, could you share your milestones and investment plans?

A: In the short term, our first major goal is to reach 3 million users and annual revenue of KRW 3 billion by 2026.

We plan to expand our product portfolio into AI video, product imagery, and API subscription services, using these products to strengthen recurring revenue and build a more sustainable MRR-based business model.

We are currently at the Pre-Series A stage, with a strong focus on investing in technology development and recruiting top AI talent.

In the medium to long term, we aim to capture more than 3% of the global generative AI market and achieve over KRW 150 billion in annual revenue by 2028, while preparing for an IPO.

Our ultimate goal is to build a globally recognized generative AI company that makes AI-powered content creation accessible to everyone.

News Article Link :

https://www.koreaittimes.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=151225