Naver Pay's Npay (네이버페이) joined hands with the Financial Supervisory Service to introduce a venture capital investment platform connecting startups and venture companies with investors. It aims to reduce information asymmetry in a venture investment market where investment information has been scarce and reliance on networks high, and to expand productive finance through capital markets.

Naver Pay said it held a launch ceremony for the venture capital investment platform on July 7 at Naver 1784 in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, with the Financial Supervisory Service and officials from the finance and venture industries. It said it would begin a pilot operation of "Npay Startup."

The event was attended by Lee Chan-jin (이찬진), head of the Financial Supervisory Service, and Park Sang-jin (박상진), chief executive of Npay, along with leaders from the Korea Financial Investment Association, the Korea Credit Finance Association, the Korea Venture Capital Association and the Korea Venture Business Association. Executives from securities firms, new technology venture capital finance companies, venture capital firms and venture companies also attended.

"Npay Startup" is a service linking limited partners, fund managers, startups and venture companies on a single platform. The Financial Supervisory Service, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and Npay jointly promoted it, and the platform's build-out and operation will be carried out with Codebox.

In the venture investment market, identifying promising companies and reviewing investments have often depended on individual networks and non-standardised materials. For startups, channels to meet investors were limited, and for investors it took significant time to compare and review company information.

Npay Startup focuses on reducing such inefficiencies. Limited partners including securities firms can post capital commitment notices on the platform and compare and evaluate fund managers based on standardised proposals. Fund managers including venture capital firms and new technology venture capital finance companies can check multiple notices in one place and reuse registered proposals repeatedly.

Startups and venture companies can upload IR materials to the platform to broaden contact with investors. AI analyses corporate information, company introductions and business models to automatically generate company pages, and it also provides indicators of investor responses to those pages.

The platform also strengthens investment review functions. Investors can assess whether to invest based on IR materials directly registered by companies, rather than relying only on research materials or estimated information. An AI summarisation function allows users to quickly check investment points in IR materials, and an AI search function helps find startups and venture companies that meet conditions.

Users can follow companies they are interested in to receive key updates such as IR updates. Startups that consent to providing information can expect promotional effects as company information is displayed not only on Npay Startup but also in Naver search.

At the event, Jae-bak Cho (조재박), a Naver Pay vice president, said startups, fund managers and capital providers still often depend on individual capabilities or networks rather than information. He said the company would use digital technology and AI to enable capital providers, fund managers and startups to connect efficiently.

Cho added that it would listen to feedback from fund managers, startups and securities firms during the pilot and make improvements. He said it would focus on creating social value and future growth engines rather than business value.

The financial investment industry and the venture industry also expressed expectations for the platform's launch. Hwang Seong-yeop (황성엽), chairman of the Korea Financial Investment Association, said expanding the supply of venture capital and connecting promising companies and investors were important for future growth and innovation in the economy. He said he hoped the platform would develop into a leading platform that goes beyond simply providing information and improves the efficiency of investment processes.

Song Byeong-jun (송병준), chairman of the Korea Venture Business Association, said many venture companies had strong technology and growth potential but lacked opportunities to meet investors. He said the platform would provide investors with opportunities to discover strong companies and offer small and medium venture businesses new growth opportunities.

Lee said it was important to resolve information asymmetry between suppliers and demanders of funds in the venture capital market to improve the efficiency of funding. He said he hoped the platform would establish itself as key infrastructure connecting innovative companies and investors and serve as an opportunity to vitalise productive finance.

Lee added that active participation by capital suppliers at the initial stage of launch was crucial to the platform's success. He said it should continue to reflect feedback from the field to advance functions and ensure accurate and reliable company information is provided.

Npay Startup will run a pilot for about three months. Npay plans to work with related institutions to review a data consistency verification system to enhance the reliability of information on the platform, and to pursue expanding participating institutions by reflecting user feedback.