Couger Inc. (headquartered in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; Atsushi Ishii, CEO; hereinafter "Couger") has reached a basic agreement with ITOCHU Corporation (Yoshihisa Suzuki, President and COO; headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; hereinafter "ITOCHU") to form a capital and business alliance.
Background
Couger has extensive development experience in a wide range of cutting-edge technologies, including gaming, image recognition AI, and blockchain, and has developed and provided its own human-like AI agent, LUDENS, which can communicate like a human across these technologies.
The human-like AI agent can communicate with people through facial expressions and actions. Compared to general voice assistants, it is easier for users to interact with it naturally, and is expected to be used in a wide range of applications, such as solving labor shortages in the retail, healthcare, and education fields, and in new entertainment and advertising services.
In addition, ITOCHU is aiming to evolve its business model using new technologies in its medium-term management plan "Brand New Deal 2020," and the alliance with Couger, which excels in product development using cutting-edge technologies such as LUDENS, fits with this plan, thus the capital and business alliance was realized.
Aim
Through this capital and business alliance, Couger will further evolve LUDENS and promote its expansion both domestically and internationally by utilizing the ITOCHU Group's network. In particular, ITOCHU will work on the practical application of Human-like AI agents and the creation of new services in a wide range of fields where ITOCHU has strengths, such as consumer-related fields, nursing care, education, and entertainment.
About Couger Inc.
We develop and provide LUDENS, a Human-like AI agent that combines AI, IoT, AR/VR, and blockchain.
The company's strength lies in image recognition AI, and its technological capabilities are among the best in the world, with a track record of technical papers accepted by major international conferences and top prizes in international competitions.
We are also engaged in development across a wide range of technologies, including the development of top-selling games in Japan, large-scale search engine development, and various projects utilizing blockchain.
