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PulseAd is a retail media solution company that provides an integrated e-commerce advertising platform. Through a solution that manages advertisements across various e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and Walmart, it supports the sales growth of retail brands.

PulseAd is the only Amazon Tech Certified Partner in Korea, utilizing Amazon's vast advertising and e-commerce operational data. It also offers real-time bidding, campaign auto-optimization, and real-time analytics report functions using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies, thereby enhancing the operational efficiency of clients' advertising campaigns. Currently, PulseAd collaborates with companies in the K-beauty, electronics, and food sectors.

PulseAd is also developing a solution called 'PulsyAI' that analyzes and proposes advertising campaign operation strategies. PulsyAI was selected as a finalist in the Tech Innovation Challenge at the Amazon Ad Developer Summit 2025 last August.

Meetings were held with Yoon Geoseong, CEO, and Choi Se-yoon, CTO of PulseAd, to discuss PulseAd and the integrated e-commerce advertising platform.


Seizing Opportunities in the Retail Media Market to Start a Business

IT DongA: Hello, CEO Yoon Geoseong and CTO Choi Se-yoon. Please introduce yourselves.

Yoon Geoseong, CEO: Hello, I am Yoon Geoseong of PulseAd. I founded a mobile app advertising platform in 2014, then oversaw the programmatic advertising business at IGAWorks (IGAW), and managed the Asia-Pacific (APAC) business for Branch, a North American advertising performance analysis solution, gaining experience in the global mobile advertising market. I later joined the style commerce platform Zigzag, overseeing the business organization and managing the merger with KakaoStyle, handling over KRW 1 trillion in annual sales. I decided to start my own business and left KakaoStyle to establish PulseAd in March 2024.

Choi Se-yoon, CTO: Hello, I am Choi Se-yoon of PulseAd. I have been working in programming development for 26 years since taking a leave of absence from university because I loved it. I have worked at Emotion, Neowiz, Tmax, Krafton, and Zigbang, and recently experienced a merger with Kakao Entertainment at the web novel platform Radish. I have also founded two startups. My expertise lies in backend and data engineering.

IT DongA: What motivated you to start PulseAd?

Yoon Geoseong, CEO: There was a time when I was contemplating between growing as a professional manager at KakaoStyle and starting a business. During that time, I happened to encounter Amazon's advertising system and felt that it was developing at a very rapid pace. Upon further investigation, I realized that this trend was very similar to the mobile advertising market 10 years ago.

Currently, the advertising market is being reorganized around e-commerce. E-commerce platforms like Amazon and Walmart are growing into global-scale advertising markets. Brands no longer sell in just one place but utilize dozens of channels, regardless of the country.

This trend is similar to the past mobile advertising market. As various apps began to emerge in the mobile market, advertisers wanted to place ads on each app. Consequently, solutions for integrated management of ad spaces across apps began to emerge, and those solution companies achieved significant growth.

Having been involved in mobile advertising-related business since 2014, I was well aware of these market trends. Therefore, I thought that by approaching the newly growing retail media market based on my experience in the mobile market, I could create new opportunities, which led to the founding of PulseAd.


IT DongA: What led you to join PulseAd, CTO Choi Se-yoon?

Choi Se-yoon, CTO: I joined PulseAd as a founding member. In fact, I did not know CEO Yoon Geoseong before. One day, I received a message through social media, which was the beginning of our connection. Initially, I declined the offer to join a startup because I knew nothing about the advertising market. However, after hearing CEO Yoon's story and researching the relevant market, I felt it was worth trying. I realized there were many areas that could be technically improved and automated, and I thought creating related products could greatly benefit companies. So, I eventually decided to join.

PulseAd Supports Integrated Management of E-commerce Advertising

IT DongA: Please introduce PulseAd.

Yoon Geoseong, CEO: PulseAd is a global retail media integrated solution company that supports the sales growth of retail brands through e-commerce advertising solutions.

Advertising fundamentally requires collaboration with various technical partners and operates continuously 24 hours a day, much like a heart that never stops pumping, connected to all blood vessels. We wanted to create an engine that could be diversely connected and continuously pump, centered around our clients, which is why we named the company PulseAd.

IT DongA: The Amazon Tech Certified Partner status stands out.

Yoon Geoseong, CEO: The Amazon Tech Certified Partner program is a system where Amazon certifies companies that effectively utilize its data to create new value as partners. Amazon operates certified partners in various fields such as e-commerce operations, advertising, logistics, and creative, and we have been selected as a certified partner in the ad tech and tool provider fields. We are currently the only one in Korea.

Of course, the process was not easy. After applying for the tech certification partner, I reached out to Amazon certification partner managers through social media, sending messages unconditionally. Eventually, I connected with the APAC partnership manager in China and was able to conduct a technical demonstration, through which we obtained the certification partner qualification. Subsequently, we participated in events held in the United States, building a network with the Amazon team and rapidly developing and enhancing our products.

Thanks to acquiring the Amazon Tech Certified Partner qualification, we are currently utilizing almost all of Amazon's advertising data. We provide this vast data to clients in various combinations. This data ensures more accurate analysis when using AI. No matter how good the model is, if the data is insufficient or incorrect, the efficiency of advertising campaign operations can decrease. We enhance campaign operation efficiency through sufficient data and technology that utilizes it appropriately.


IT DongA: Why are there not many Amazon Tech Certified Partners?

Choi Se-yoon, CTO: It is because Amazon's data is so vast, and collecting and aggregating the data is not easy. We made significant investments to penetrate the market early, allowing us to quickly build an integrated e-commerce advertising platform. Currently, we have completed the platform construction by integrating Amazon advertising and e-commerce operation-related data. It is known that there are fewer than 50 such platforms globally.

IT DongA: Please introduce the e-commerce integrated advertising platform built by PulseAd.

Yoon Geoseong, CEO: The e-commerce integrated advertising platform supports companies listed on global e-commerce platforms to manage advertisements across multiple e-commerce platforms. Utilizing AI and machine learning technologies, it supports companies in executing advertising campaigns easily and efficiently, offering functions such as real-time bidding, campaign auto-optimization, and real-time analytics reports.

We are currently focusing on Amazon because there was a strong customer need to enhance advertising efficiency on Amazon. Many customers were actually running advertisements on TikTok, Google, and Meta to achieve high performance on Amazon. Therefore, we created a solution that integrates external media data from TikTok, Meta, Google, etc., which send traffic to Amazon, allowing for the management of advertising campaigns all at once. This has continuously resulted in improved advertising performance and enhanced budget execution efficiency.

In addition to Amazon, we are also preparing integration with other e-commerce platforms like Walmart and Target. We are currently expanding our business area into the U.S. market, as U.S. customers desire advertisements across various e-commerce platforms, prompting us to expand our services accordingly.


Enhancing Marketer Work Efficiency with PulsyAI

IT DongA: We heard you are preparing a new solution. What is it?

Choi Se-yoon, CTO: We are developing an AI solution called 'PulsyAI' that analyzes and proposes advertising campaign operation strategies. It is a solution that enhances work efficiency by supporting the practical work of marketers, such as data collection and analysis, using AI technology.

PulsyAI integrates and analyzes external data such as e-commerce and social channel campaigns operated by clients, market trends, and business reports, proposing optimal advertising campaigns based on data. It allows for identifying the sales contribution of executed advertisements and supports report and team sharing functions, providing an effect as if receiving help from an advertising campaign expert.

In the future, we plan to develop it into an automated system that analyzes data, generates appropriate advertising campaigns, applies them, measures their performance, and re-applies improved campaigns without the need for marketer intervention.

PulsyAI is scheduled to start closed testing with some customers in September, with plans to gradually expand the target customers. Notably, PulsyAI was selected as a finalist in the Tech Innovation Challenge at the Amazon Ad Developer Summit 2025 last August. Over 50 global companies participated, and it was among the final four solutions.

"Aiming to Grow into a Global Retail Media Company"

IT DongA: Please tell us about your overseas expansion status.

Yoon Geoseong, CEO: From the beginning, we had the global market, especially the U.S. market, in mind. Trends in Korea or the Asian market are about 3-4 years behind the U.S. Therefore, we thought that by first challenging the U.S. market, enhancing the technical completeness, and accumulating sufficient customer references, we would have a greater chance of leading the market when entering Korea or the Asian market.

Thus, we established a branch in the U.S. last May. I am currently residing in Seattle, USA, directly engaging with American brands. We have already signed contracts with several companies. Additionally, we are strengthening partnerships with various e-commerce companies like Walmart.

IT DongA: You are currently receiving support from the SeoulTech Global Corporate Collaboration Program. What support have you received?

Yoon Geoseong, CEO: We are participating in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Jungle Program. Through this, we visited the AWS headquarters in the U.S. last May, receiving education on software as a service (SaaS) business strategies and approaches, and participated in meetings and educational sessions with major U.S. venture capitalists. Thanks to this, we were able to learn very practical and specific cases. We also received a lot of help in securing networks with other startups.


IT DongA: Lastly, please tell us about your future plans and goals.

Yoon Geoseong, CEO: Currently, we are most focused on optimizing advertising performance. We are confident that if we successfully establish the integrated e-commerce advertising solution in the retail media market and create various success stories, we will achieve significant growth in this market.

We also aim to actively respond to the AI era. We believe that AI can completely change the way marketers and brands work, rather than improving advertising performance itself. We want to contribute to improving the overall marketing workflow, centered around PulsyAI.

We have only been established for about a year and a half. The retail media market is still in its early stages. This market will continue to run towards its peak for about the next 10 years. We aim to grow into a global company recognized in the retail media market, based on our technological capabilities connecting e-commerce and advertising.

IT DongA Reporter Han Man-hyuk (mh@itdonga.com)

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