Out of Set
Category: Voice / Speech AI
South Korean on-device speech AI startup building edge-native foundation models for voice recognition and synthesis, designed from the ground up for device-level deployment without cloud dependency. Out of Set was founded in 2026. The company is led by Hyeongju Kim (김형주). Based in Seoul, South Korea. Team size: 1-10. Latest round: Seed. Key investors include TheVentures (더벤처스).
- Founded
- 2026
- Headquarters
- Seoul, South Korea
- Team size
- 1-10
Value proposition
Edge-native on-device speech AI models that are task-perfect, zero-overhead, and instantly deployable — designed from scratch for device environments rather than compressed from cloud models, enabling privacy, low latency, and offline reliability without performance degradation.
Products and solutions
On-device speech AI models (voice recognition/STT and voice synthesis/TTS), Airy Studio (launched Aug 2026 — live text-to-AI-voice web app at airy.so/studio, 0.2s TTS, KR/EN, 10 voices, under 'Airy' brand), Voice Agent (hands-free conversational AI), Live Translation (real-time speech-to-speech), Instant Captions (live subtitles, meeting notes, dictation), Voice Transformation (enhance quality, change speaker, adjust accent)
Unique value
Unlike competitors who compress large cloud models (taking months to deploy with quality loss), Out of Set builds native on-device foundation models from the ground up — delivering best-in-class performance that deploys instantly to PC, mobile, wearable, or IoT without battery drain, frame drops, or memory pressure.
Target customer
Security-sensitive verticals (healthcare, legal, financial); smartphone, automotive, and robotics OEMs; enterprises needing private, low-latency, offline voice AI
Industries served
Healthcare; Legal; Financial Services; Smartphone; Automotive; Robotics
Technology advantage
Native on-device foundation model architecture designed from scratch for edge deployment; proprietary automatic fine-tuning system enabling rapid customer-specific model adaptation; ultra-lightweight vertical AI models that run without internet connection; proven technical excellence via #1 HuggingFace ranking and thousands of GitHub stars on prior open-source work
How they differentiate
Native edge-first architecture (not compressed cloud models); automatic fine-tuning system for customer-specific adaptation with fewer resources; founded by top-tier speech AI researchers with proven open-source track record (HuggingFace #1, thousands of GitHub stars); zero-overhead design that doesn't compete with host app resources
Main competitors
Selvas AI (셀바스AI) — Korean on-device STT/TTS provider; Supertone (HYBE) — on-device TTS (Supertonic); Nuemath (뉴메스) — lightweight foundation models
Major milestones
Founded April 2026, Seed investment from TheVentures (May 2026), Selected for TIPS (Tech Incubation Program for Startup) by Ministry of SMEs and Startups, up to KRW 800M R&D grant over 2 years, recommended by TheVentures (August 2026), Launched 'Airy' voice AI brand and Airy Studio text-to-speech web service (August 2026), CEO's prior open-source on-device TTS model ranked #1 on HuggingFace with thousands of GitHub stars
Market positioning
Early-stage Korean startup in the on-device speech AI space, competing against established Korean players (Selvas AI) and HYBE-backed Supertone. Differentiates via native edge-first architecture vs. compressed cloud models. Targeting security-sensitive verticals first.
Geographic focus
South Korea (primary); global markets via open-source community
About Hyeongju Kim (김형주)
Ex-Neosapience Speech AI Developer; Ex-Supertone (HYBE) Speech AI Lead (5 years total speech AI development). M.S. in Electrical & Information Engineering, Seoul National University. Published open-source on-device TTS model that ranked #1 on Hugging Face in its category with thousands of GitHub stars.
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Official website: https://www.outofset.com