[더구루=홍성일 기자] Crit Ventures USA, the U.S. subsidiary of Crit Ventures, announced that it has made a strategic investment in Habitus Associates, the operator of the AI-native art platform 'Artue' . Following this investment, Crit Ventures USA becomes the second-largest shareholder of Habitus Associates based on the total value of its managed funds.
Launched in 2023 with the vision of becoming the 'Operating System (OS) of the Art Market in the AI Era' Artue is an AI-native art platform that understands users’ aesthetic preferences and recommends artworks through conversational, multimodal, and emotion-based search. The platform currently features over 540 artists and 4000 artworks, with both artist participation and artwork listings growing by 15% and 20% respectively over the past year — reflecting Artue’s rapidly expanding global reach and influence.
Artue has filed the world’s first patent for an AI-based art recommendation and discovery system, recognized as a pioneering case of technological standardization in visualizing artistic experience. The innovation was showcased as a featured example at the OpenAI Korea Launch Event. In addition, Artue integrates blockchain-powered copyright protection, forgery verification, and digital ownership management, building a trusted global art transaction infrastructure. The company is now advancing initiatives for tokenized securities (STO) of physical artworks and the establishment of a global art investment fund.
To support this, Artue has entered a technical partnership with CONX (ticker: XPLA) — an STO blockchain platform involving Com2uS Holdings — to develop a next-generation ArtTech financial infrastructure that unites AI, blockchain, and digital assets.
A representative from Crit Ventures USA stated "Artue is at the forefront of the digital transformation of the art industry, rapidly integrating cutting edge technologies into the creative economy. As the AI sector shifts from general-purpose models toward domain-specialized applications in content, design and entertainment, Artue stands out as a leading example of this evolution."
Bo Young SONG, CEO of Habitus Associates, added, "AI is redefining how people experience and engage with art. Together with Crit Ventures USA, we aim to establish the global standard user experience (UX) for technology-driven art markets and set a new benchmark for the digital art ecosystem where AI and art coexist."
Meanwhile, Crit Ventures USA has recently opened a Palo Alto office following its Los Angeles expansion, actively supporting Korean startups in their North American market entry and global network expansion.
