Busan's blockchain-based fintech startups are attracting attention for their growth potential as they are successfully attracting angel investment one after another.
According to Busan Fintech Hub on the 19th, 'Uncommon Lab', a company located in the hub, attracted a total of 1.1 billion won, including 300 million won in angel investment last year, 100 million won in early startup package from a startup investment company in April, and 700 million won from 'Tips', a government and private investment program, in July. It is unusual for early fintech companies founded in 2022 to be selected for investment programs one after another and secure seed money of over 1 billion won in a short period of time.
Uncommon Lab is a developer of 'Blockchain Node Operation Middleware'. It builds the infrastructure required for blockchain-related businesses or projects utilizing blockchain. It provides a foundation for creating and operating a blockchain network, just like building an intranet or server in the Internet era.
Uncommon Lab's successive rounds of investment mean that its technology and business viability have been recognized. Uncommon Lab's core product is the 'NaaS' platform. It is a security solution that allows digital assets to be managed safely and directly without a trustee. Uncommon Lab explains that it is designed in a decentralized manner so that only investors and users can access it, and that even those without blockchain technology knowledge can easily use it.
Investment companies are seeing the market potential of the NaaS platform. Due to the 'Haru Investment Incident' that broke out last year, digital asset holders are anxious about trustees. The Haru Investment Incident was when the trustee suddenly stopped withdrawing about 1.4 trillion won worth of coins after receiving them through false advertising. However, even if digital asset holders try to manage their assets directly, there are risks such as hacking or loss.
The NaaS platform is expected to attract the attention of digital asset holders by lowering the entry barriers for asset management and staking. The fact that the technology is in line with the legislative intent of the 'Virtual Asset User Protection Act' that was implemented last July also had a positive effect on attracting investment.
“The blockchain market is seeing a steady increase in participants, but it was very unfortunate that there was no middleware security solution that provided a user-friendly interface,” said Dong-eon Kim, CEO of Uncommon Lab, explaining the background of the development of the NaaS platform.
Uncommon Lab was founded in 2022 as a government-funded company related to the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, and has established itself in Busan, a blockchain special zone, from the beginning. Afterwards, it was selected as a company to move into the Busan Fintech Hub and established cooperative relationships with Pusan National University, Pukyung National University, etc. It was also designated as a partner company for Naver Cloud and AhnLab, an information security company.
CEO Kim Dong-eon said, “With the successive rounds of investment, we will be able to accelerate our entry into the global market in the first half of next year,” adding, “Our ultimate goal is to contribute to the popularization of the industry by removing the high entry barriers to blockchain technology.”
