Fintech International
The nation's financial technology (fintech) companies are accelerating their moves to penetrate overseas markets. Crowdfunding platforms, which attract money regardless of national boundaries, and online payment service providers are actively seeking to enter overseas markets.
According to sources in the financial industry on Sept. 1, crowdfunding platforms such as OpenTrade and Make Star and online payment service providers like KG Inicis and PayGate are aggressively seeking to penetrate overseas markets.
OpenTrade is working to establish a local subsidiary in Singapore. Through this, the company plans to build an environment that facilitates the inflow of foreign investment, aiming to help local fintech companies attract capital.
OpenTrade is also involved in equity investment type crowdfunding for online legal service Rocket. Previously, it was in charge of crowdfunding projects for numerous start-ups, including Onoffmix and UMVEN. Last month, the company decided to provide crowdfunding opportunities for start-ups that need initial investment by joining KB Financial Group's project to nurture fintech start-ups.
Make Star, which specializes in entertainment, is trying to become a global company. It will start a trial service during this month by raising money from a large number of people to make movies or dramas and distribute the profits afterwards. In particular, it is planning to provide the service in other languages like English, Chinese, Japanese, and Spanish so that it can mobilize capital from Hallyu fans around the world.
Online payment service providers, which have recently been approved to start transferring foreign currency services, are also accelerating efforts to enter overseas markets. KG Inicis has already signed a contract with Ctrip, China's largest online travel agency, providing support for online payments using local credit cards to use 500,000 hotels in China, in addition to Visa or Mastercard.
PayGate has also begun its service that enables people to deposit their money into an account in Rakuten Bank, an Internet-only bank, by forging a partnership with the Rakuten Group. As a result, those who run Interet shopping malls in the nation will be allowed to put money into a Japanese account.
In addition, Korea Cyber Payment and KRPartners, which have finished registering their foreign currency businesses, are reportedly making contact with affiliated stores in other countries.
Fintech companies' overseas expansion like this is likely to gain momentum in tandem with financial authorities' plans to provide support for the fintech companies' entry into overseas markets. Financial authorities recently established a 3-step support measure to help fintech firms penetrate overseas markets.