OpenAI Hackathon Winner Waddle Labs Brings AI Growth Agent to US Market
TECHNOLOGY
Waddle Labs, an AI technology company, today announced its U.S. market debut with the launch of Gentoo, an autonomous AI growth agent.
Most e-commerce businesses know they're losing sales, but few can pinpoint exactly where or why. Traditional analytics tools show what's happening, traffic drops, abandoned carts, low conversion, but they don't explain the underlying reasons or, more importantly, fix them. Waddle Labs is launching in the United States with Gentoo, an AI agent designed to do both.
Gentoo doesn't just report problems. It simulates real user behavior, identifies friction points across the shopping experience, and autonomously implements improvements. The result, according to beta testing data, has been significant: one retailer saw a 60% increase in quarterly revenue, another recorded a 36% rise in monthly sales.
How It Works
Gentoo's core technology is built on "user clone simulations," AI agents that mimic thousands of potential customer journeys to audit an e-commerce site. These digital clones navigate through product pages, checkout flows, and search functions just as real shoppers would, surfacing issues that standard analytics miss: confusing navigation, vague product descriptions, slow-loading images, or unclear calls to action.
Once it identifies a problem, Gentoo doesn't just flag it for a human team to address later. It reasons through the issue, suggests fixes, and can implement changes autonomously. The platform operates continuously, functioning as what the company calls a "hands-on growth partner" that works around the clock.
The underlying engine came from Waddle Labs' project "Oracle of Delphi for Online Stores," which won recognition at the OpenAI Hackathon. The technology analyzes customer context and intent to detect growth blockers that slip past conventional tracking tools.
Proven Results from Beta Testing
Before entering the US market, Gentoo went through rigorous testing with online retailers. The results were measurable: a 36% increase in monthly online revenue and 30% growth in order volume for one merchant; 60% quarterly revenue growth for another; and a third saw quarterly orders surge by 70% with revenue up 50%.
These numbers suggest that Gentoo is addressing a real gap in the e-commerce toolkit, moving beyond passive observation to active intervention.
Leadership and Expansion
Waddle Labs is led by co-founders Jihyuk Park and Yongwon Cho, both KAIST graduates and Forbes Asia 30 Under 30 honorees. The company, founded in 2019, has raised $2 million from investors including Kakao Ventures, Fast Ventures, and Bon Angels.
"Running an online store involves hundreds of micro-decisions daily," said Yongwon Cho, CEO of Waddle Labs. "Gentoo isn't just a tool; it's a tireless growth partner that works 24/7 to drive scalable growth. With our US launch, we are bringing this capability to every merchant."
The company has already secured 15 early adopters among brands operating online and brick-and-mortar stores in San Francisco and Los Angeles. After conducting direct on-site interviews with over 300 local merchants, Waddle Labs is now scaling across the United States. The team is also refining its AI models using insights from both simulations and real-world performance data generated by Gentoo.
What This Means for E-Commerce
For small and medium-sized businesses, Gentoo represents a shift from diagnostic tools to prescriptive action. Rather than hiring expensive consultants or dedicating internal resources to A/B testing and optimization, merchants can deploy an AI agent that continuously audits, diagnoses, and improves their sites.
Waddle Labs' vision extends beyond optimization. The company aims to build an AI agent-native e-commerce platform that maximizes both merchant and customer experience, turning growth from a series of manual experiments into an automated, continuous process.
For more information, visit en.gentooai.com.