It started as an online karaoke platform, but iKala's present iteration is a company that provides digital transformation and data-driven marketing products, or martech, to corporate clients. Throughout these pivots, cloud computing remains its core competency. In 2016, co-founder Sega Cheng noticed the shift in the advertising industry from exposure toward efficacy, and decided it was the right time for machine learning to become part of the process. iKala launched Picaas, the world’s first AI image editing product that uses DeepFake technology to automatically adjust mass ad images to adhere to Google Shopping requirements and intellectual property rights laws.

Cheng places great emphasis on using human-centered AI, meaning that their products must help people solve problems and not create them, like other apps that have used DeepFake in harmful ways. In 2020, iKala received US$17 million in its Series B funding, enabling it to expand into new regional markets and enhance the company’s R&D capabilities.