Naver Pay launches 'Npay Startup' platform to connect startups with investors

A venture capital investment platform called "Npay Startup" launched Tuesday, aiming to connect startups and venture companies with investors. The initiative is designed to improve access to investment information, facilitate a smoother flow of venture capital to startups, and expand what its backers call "productive finance" through the capital markets.

The launch ceremony was held at Naver's 1784 headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, and was attended by officials from the Financial Supervisory Service, Naver Pay, and key figures from the financial and venture industries. The event marked the official start of the platform's pilot operations.

FSS Governor Lee Chan-jin and Npay CEO Park Sang-jin were among those present, along with the heads of the Korea Financial Investment Association, the Specialized Credit Finance Business Association, the Korea Venture Capital Association and the Korea Venture Business Association. Executives from securities firms, new technology business finance companies, venture capital firms and startup CEOs also attended. In his congratulatory remarks, Lee said the government and financial authorities are making pan-government efforts to nurture innovative small and medium-sized enterprises and venture companies as new engines of economic growth. "I hope this venture capital investment platform will become a core piece of infrastructure connecting innovative companies with investors, and serve as an opportunity to invigorate productive finance," he said.

The platform was built to bring together the three main market participants — investors such as securities firms, fund managers including venture capital and new technology business finance companies, and startups — on a single platform. The FSS, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and Npay jointly developed it to address the difficulty of identifying promising investment targets and the inefficiencies in the investment review and fundraising process. Each participant will be able to check all necessary investment information in one place and use standardized processes, which is expected to improve the efficiency of investment discovery and matching.

The platform is also expected to open doors for startups and venture companies outside the capital region. More than 90 percent of domestic venture and investment capital is concentrated in the Greater Seoul area, leaving regional companies at a disadvantage. The platform is intended to give them a chance to connect with investors regardless of location.

Npay unveiled and demonstrated the Npay Startup service for the first time Tuesday. The platform offers tailored features for each type of participant — investors, fund managers and startups. Fund managers searching for promising startups, for example, can submit a "coffee chat request" through the platform's web page to arrange in-person meetings. Codebox, a company that supports the standardization of startup investment information and investor outreach, co-developed and will co-operate the platform.

The platform is set to streamline the investment process for all parties. When a securities firm or other investor posts a fund commitment notice on Npay Startup, venture capital firms and other fund managers can view all notices at a glance and apply using a pre-registered standard proposal form. The form includes a fund manager's overview, key fund personnel and the manager's investment track record, including past exit experience and investment history. This reduces the burden on fund managers who would otherwise repeat the same information for each application, while allowing investors to systematically compare and evaluate fund overviews, key personnel and track records.

Investment discovery will also become more precise. Instead of relying on research reports or estimated data, investors can review IR materials submitted directly by startups, and an AI summarization feature lets them quickly identify key investment points. An AI search function that handles complex, multi-condition queries allows users to pinpoint startups matching specific criteria. Users can also follow companies of interest to receive real-time updates on IR filings and other major developments, keeping track of a company's growth and investment status on an ongoing basis.

The platform also lowers the bar for startups seeking to connect with investors. Once a startup uploads its IR materials, AI analyzes the company's corporate information and business model to automatically generate a company profile page, and provides metrics on investor engagement with that page. Startup information will also appear in Naver search results — not just on Npay Startup — boosting promotional reach and investor touchpoints at the same time.

Npay Startup will undergo a roughly three-month pilot before being upgraded. In the early stage, the service will focus on basic verification features to improve accessibility for startups with urgent funding needs. Npay plans to work with relevant organizations to develop a multi-faceted data integrity verification system to improve information reliability, while actively gathering user feedback to expand the range of participating institutions.

"Naver itself was able to grow from a venture company to what it is today because there were investors who believed in the company's innovation and potential," Park said. "We will actively support Npay Startup — the catalyst that connects innovative companies with investors — so that many more success stories can emerge."