CUE Group consists of four companies: Qinxin Interactive (齐欣互动), Yingzhijia (赢之嘉), Inna Technology (赢纳科技), and AnG (安与吉). Each firm has retained its original brand identity and provides unique digital marketing services to a variety of customers through mutually beneficial cooperation.
The CUE Group established its first business relationship with a Korean company by supplying the “New Retail Solution” to the Beijing SOHO outlet of A Twosome Place, a coffee franchise owned by CJ Group in August 2019. In April this year, it made inroads into Korea by providing the same solution to six additional stores of the same coffee franchise. It is currently working together with Myongji Hospital in the areas of AI and big data to develop a monitoring system for infections within a specific group. It also launched the CUE Real-time AI Facial and Body Temperature Detector in Korea last May and donated a set of equipment to Daegu when the city was facing a massive outbreak of COVID-19.
Shi Kan (施侃), the CEO of the CUE Group, started his career at Intel China after graduating from college in 2003 and joined VMWare USA (in Silicon Valley) in 2007. In 2008, Kan established AnG (Wushang Technology, 安与吉) in Silicon Valley and went into the advertisement business. The American department store chain Nordstrom, which was AnG’s first client, used AnG’s early products in its marketing strategy and improved marketing efficiency by 35 percent. AnG established its branches in Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan, Nanjing, and other locations in China in 2018 and expanded its business in mainland China, strengthening its market base in China from an early stage by securing more than 5,000 clients. Bolstered by such success, Kan proposed his company’s integration with three other agencies, Qinxin Interactive (齐欣互动), Yingzhijia (赢之嘉), Inna Technology (赢纳科技), and founded the CUE Group.
MoneyToday sat with CUE’s CEO, Shi Kan, who is seeking business opportunities in Korea on the momentum of this success. His name is inscribed in Korean on his Korean business card as “Sigan,” which means “time” in Korean.
Q: What is the meaning and purpose of the CUE Group’s business expansion into Korea?
A: CUE has started to accelerate its business in Korea since last April. We were looking for an opportunity to introduce our facial recognition system to Korea in the wake of COVID-19. I believe there are plenty of opportunities in the Korean market. I think the Korean market is highly advanced in terms of product appeal, planning capacity, and data technology.
Our first goal for entering into business in the Korean market is to introduce existing products to the market. The second is to help outstanding Korean companies and brands to expand into the Chinese market. Thirdly, we will explore various opportunities from the global viewpoint as a transnational company backed by US capital investment. Besides the Chinese market, we have already entered the North American and Southeast Asian markets. In this regard, our entry into the Korean market is a natural course of action.
The strengths of the CUE Group are its digital processing capability and ecosystem. If our company collaborates with Korean companies based on these strengths, we will discover so many opportunities for growth. For the benefit of the CUE Group as well, I hope to work with more Korean talents and learn from their global competence and capacity for innovation.
Q: What are the main business items of the CUE Group?
A: Our fundamental goal is to facilitate the effective use of technologies based on big data and AI for the benefit of customers.
Our first business area was corporate solutions. We sought to assist companies in various tasks by using AI or big data technology for marketing or e-commerce purposes. For instance, we focused on how various consumer platforms can effectively secure consumers and how marketing effects can be improved online. Our second business was to help companies digitize their business online or offline. Using AI technology, we introduced a system that analyzes consumption patterns of consumers in various offline stores. Recently, we examined how we could apply AI technology in the current COVID-19 pandemic and introduced systems involving face recognition and body temperature measurement technology. Our third area of business is entertainment and cultural content IP (intellectual property). This requires cooperation between IP companies and brand companies so that they can induce added value from IP companies. The entertainment business includes culture, sports, and tourism.
Q: We hear you are also interested in discovering and investing in promising start-ups?
A: The countless start-ups based on science and technology can largely be divided into two categories. Enterprises in the first category take a technical approach. They first study technology and then think where it could be applied. The second category of companies identifies what difficulties already exist in the market and accordingly develops innovative technology to solve the problem. The CUE Group is closer to the latter. Starting from this angle, we narrow the gap between technology and reality a little faster.
Ninety percent of start-ups that exist right now will disappear within three years. Not for any particular reason, but rather because of a natural and normal phenomenon. That is why many companies are small in scale. I also started as a single-person company through a basic business incubator. What is essential is to create an environment that can actively help people to start a business. Even though the business may not seem profitable at the moment, I believe that helping to grow such businesses constitutes a process within the business ecosystem that is evolving. This is why the CUE Group is trying to invest in promising start-ups.
Q: Are there any criteria that the CUE Group prioritizes when making investment decisions?
A: When we are looking for business partners, we first look at the company’s values and the potential synergy from us working together. The strength of the CUE Group is in its digital processing capability and ecosystem, and if we collaborate with Korean companies based on these strengths, I believe there will be more opportunities for growth.
In addition, “people and organization” is also an important factor. As business is about working with people, people are a crucial factor. All innovative technologies are developed by people. I think the CUE Group’s capabilities also come from its people and the organization comprised of such people. In the same vein, it is the people and the organization comprised of such people that we prioritize when making investment decisions. If you put people first, innovation will be made through the people and eventually result in a new product. The product will soon become the work of the entire organization, and generate financial data in the end. The first step in any business process starts with people, which is the most essential part. This is why we put our focus on the people. In fact, I feel that everything that happens after merely consist of superficial figures.
Q: Do you have in mind a specific scale of investment or number of companies that you want to invest in?
A: We do not have a set number in mind. We take a strategic approach and pay attention to each company’s projects and assess the possible outcomes of collaborating with the company, so it is not like we set a specific figure before making investments. For example, in one case, we invested $500,000 in seed money, and in another, we conducted mergers and acquisitions worth $200 million.
Q What is the future vision and outlook for the CUE Group?
A: The CUE Group is a platform that helps businesses in diverse technical aspects. Ever since our launch, we have been aiming to be a “service platform for global companies.” Consequently, in the course of us becoming a global company, convergence with the Korean market will play an important role. In the future, we are planning to discover AI convergence models in various fields such as smart factories, smart cities, smart logistics, and smart farms in partnership with Korean companies and their talents. The CUE Group Seoul office will play diverse roles in this regard.
Q: Could you elaborate on your partnership with the SBA and ISC?
A: I was impressed in various aspects. In particular, the environment to help innovative businesses was more effectively established than we had expected. The short two-day itinerary indeed demonstrated how well-prepared the SBA and ISC were. I extend my gratitude to them.
Thanks to the SBA and ISC, we were able to hold meetings with numerous firms. We gained much insight during the meetings with companies in diverse areas such as science and technology, media, and tradition-related enterprises. I believe that we have discovered good partners with whom we can strategically build mutually beneficial relationships.
[저작권자 @머니투데이, 무단전재 및 재배포 금지]