YukYuk founder Venandya Camelia
In an business crowded with well-funded world AI gamers, Venandya Camelia is taking a markedly completely different path. The younger, first-time founder from Indonesia is constructing YukYuk, an AI-powered artistic platform that permits customers to generate pictures, movies, music and sound results immediately.
Designed for velocity and accessibility, YukYuk is aimed squarely at creators who need to experiment with AI with out the steep studying curves or prices typically related to current instruments.
What units YukYuk aside isn’t solely what it affords, however how it’s constructed. Your entire startup runs on AI, from product growth to advertising and marketing and buyer engagement. Camelia depends closely on generative AI and AI brokers to automate operations, a setup she describes as “AI as my co-founder”.
The concept for YukYuk originated from Camelia’s personal artistic habits. “YukYuk started from a easy behavior of making AI movies and pictures on social media,” she stated. “On the time, many Indonesian customers have been interested by AI, however there was no native, easy-to-use platform that allowed them to experiment with video, music, voice, and results in a single place.”
Many current instruments, she added, felt too complicated or too costly for the Indonesian market, or have been primarily designed for Western customers.
As she experimented with generative AI and used AI brokers to design and prototype options, curiosity started to develop organically. Launched publicly in October, YukYuk has already attracted greater than 1,000 natural customers and early paying prospects. Its early traction displays Indonesia’s quickly rising creator financial system, the place curiosity in AI instruments is rising, however entry stays uneven.
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YukYuk was additionally chosen for the Tech in Asia Startup Manufacturing unit 2025 in Jakarta, signalling growing recognition for homegrown AI startups rising from the nation.
On this e mail interview with e27, Camelia offers additional particulars in regards to the firm’s work and its future path.
The next is an edited excerpt of the dialog:
What downside do you intention to deal with, and why is your resolution higher than current choices?
The principle situation at the moment is that many AI artistic instruments are unfamiliar and overwhelming for on a regular basis customers. The interfaces are complicated, the workflows are fragmented throughout a number of platforms, and pricing is commonly excessive in comparison with what native creators can comfortably afford. There may be additionally a cultural hole as a result of many instruments don’t replicate the artistic preferences of Southeast Asians.
YukYuk was designed to make AI creation easy, native, and fast. It combines video, picture, music, voice, and sound results in a single place, introduced in a mobile-first setting that feels acquainted to customers in Indonesia. The expertise is straightforward to grasp from the primary attempt, and the costs replicate the buying energy of native customers. This mixture of simplicity, cultural relevance, and affordability is what distinguishes YukYuk from world options.
How do you stand out and construct belief as an impartial Indonesian startup in an area dominated by billion-dollar corporations?
Our power comes from being quick, centered, and deeply related to the local people. We use AI brokers internally to speed up growth, design, testing, and content material planning, which permits us to iterate a lot quicker than giant corporations with lengthy launch cycles.
We additionally construct with a transparent understanding of Indonesian and Southeast Asian creator behaviour. This helps YukYuk really feel extra private and fewer intimidating in comparison with world instruments. Customers belief merchandise that perceive their tradition, their language, and the way in which they create.
Being an impartial, homegrown startup additionally offers us the flexibleness to introduce options that world instruments would possibly overlook, equivalent to native fee assist and upcoming cellular apps for each Android and iOS.
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YukYuk has grown to over 1,000 natural customers with out adverts. Who’re these customers, and what contributed to this early traction?
Most of our early customers are Gen Z creators who’re energetic on TikTok and Instagram, together with college students, small enterprise homeowners, and informal customers who get pleasure from experimenting with AI visuals. Many are additionally followers of stylised content material equivalent to anime-inspired movies.
The traction got here organically from the content material I shared by myself social channels. Individuals reposted their creations, beneficial the platform to their pals, and joined out of curiosity. The onboarding expertise is straightforward, so customers can generate one thing attention-grabbing inside minutes. This mixture of word-of-mouth, group curiosity, and localised content material helped YukYuk develop with none paid promoting.
What have been your key takeaways from the Tech in Asia Startup Manufacturing unit 2025 program?
The programme confirmed that there’s a robust demand in Indonesia for a neighborhood AI artistic platform. The suggestions helped make clear what makes YukYuk completely different and inspired us to take care of a powerful concentrate on group interplay. I additionally discovered how invaluable it’s to remain small and environment friendly through the use of AI-first operations. The expertise bolstered our path and helped us refine our subsequent steps with extra confidence.
How do you see the artistic course of altering as AI evolves, and what function will YukYuk play?
Artistic work is shifting from technical execution towards thought path. As a substitute of spending hours modifying, individuals will have the ability to describe what they need and let AI deal with the heavy lifting. AI will help with brainstorming, modifying, producing, and optimising content material.
YukYuk goals to assist this shift by providing a easy, all-in-one platform the place anybody can create AI content material immediately. We plan to introduce AI artistic brokers that assist customers generate concepts, observe tendencies, and produce constant movies. We additionally plan to supply a full cellular app for Android and iOS, as a result of most customers in Southeast Asia create content material immediately from their telephones. Native fee assist will additional make the platform simple to entry for customers who don’t use bank cards.
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Total, our function is to make AI creativity pleasant, quick, and accessible.
What’s your plan for 2026?
In 2026, we plan to evolve YukYuk from a software right into a full artistic ecosystem. This consists of introducing AI artistic brokers, strengthening the social and remix options contained in the platform, and increasing entry to neighbouring nations in Southeast Asia. A significant milestone is the discharge of our cellular apps for each Android and iOS, which is able to enable customers to create immediately from their telephones.
We additionally intention to enhance the cellular expertise for quicker era and start constructing early types of creator monetisation towards the tip of the 12 months. The general path is to create an area the place customers can ideate, produce, and share AI content material in a single place.
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Photographs Credit score: YukYuk
The put up One founder, many AI brokers: A glance inside YukYuk’s solo-built artistic platform appeared first on e27.
