Naver Pay, South Korea Watchdog Launch Startup Investment Platform

Naver Pay has partnered with South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service to launch Naver Pay Startup, a platform aimed at fostering startups. The online service lets users review startup information, prepare investment proposals and conduct tailored company searches, with the goal of making it easier for securities firms and venture-capital investors to back promising companies.

Naver Pay announced the launch of Naver Pay Startup on July 7. The online investment platform aggregates information on promising companies so investors can review it easily and move through to actual investments. Naver Pay and the Financial Supervisory Service have been developing the platform for risk capital since July 2025.

The platform’s services are tailored by user type. Limited partners, including securities firms, can search for and review company information before investing, use artificial intelligence-generated summaries and access capital contribution notices. The platform also includes a function that allows investors to request business reports from portfolio companies in bulk.

For fund managers such as venture-capital firms, all capital contribution notices can be searched in one place. Proposal documents registered in advance can also be reused across multiple notices, reducing the burden of repeatedly drafting the same content. When startup investor-relations materials matching pre-registered categories are uploaded, the platform automatically sends alerts so investors can make proposals more quickly.

Startups can upload investor-relations materials directly to seek investors. For companies with limited fundraising experience, AI analyzes key information in those materials, including corporate details, company introductions and business models, and automatically creates a company page. Startups can also receive metrics on investor responses to that page.

Naver Pay Startup will first undergo a three-month pilot program before the service is further upgraded. To improve the reliability of information on the platform, the company plans to work with related institutions to review a data-consistency verification system.

Lee Chan-jin, governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, said he hopes market participants including securities firms, fund managers, startups and venture companies will actively use the platform to help invigorate the risk-capital market.

Naver Pay Chief Executive Officer Park Sang-jin said the company will actively support more success stories through Naver Pay Startup, which he described as a bridge connecting innovative companies and investors.

Bae Tae-woong, Hankyung reporter (btu104@hankyung.com)