ICONLOOP Raises KRW 10 Billion Series A to Accelerate Its DID Business

ICONLOOP Raises KRW 10 Billion Series A to Accelerate Its DID Business

Seven investors took part in the round, including the Korea Technology Finance Corporation (KOTEC) and TS Investment. KOTEC, which led the investment, noted that this was its first investment in a blockchain company and cited "the turning point the Korean blockchain market has reached" and "the potential for ICONLOOP, with its unmatched technology and services, to expand its market share" as the reasons for its decision.

With the Series A round successfully closed, ICONLOOP will focus on the commercial launch of MyID (my-ID), its own DID (Decentralized ID) service, and on expanding the MyID Alliance. MyID is scheduled to launch as a commercial consumer service in the first half of next year, and a total of 27 institutions and companies across a range of fields — commercial banks, securities firms, e-commerce companies, and manufacturers among them — have already confirmed their participation in the alliance. Beginning with the financial sector at large, ICONLOOP intends to expand the alliance into other industries such as fintech, e-commerce, the sharing economy, and healthcare, creating pioneering use cases for blockchain and driving broader growth of the market.

"In step with the global trend of returning sovereignty over personal data to consumers, the uses of blockchain in Korea are evolving into applications such as decentralized ID," an official at KOTEC's venture investment center said. "ICONLOOP, which has acquired technology and know-how through major projects with numerous financial and public institutions, will capture the market with MyID and lead the growth of the Korean blockchain industry."

"With market interest in DID rising, our expectations for ICONLOOP are exceptional, because it has all three elements — a clear business model, partners who will help spread the service, and proven technology," said Jungsoo Kim, Director of the Investment Division at TS Investment.

"I believe this investment carries not only recognition of the marketability of our blockchain technology but also a responsibility, as a Korean blockchain company, to promote the growth of the market as a whole," said ICONLOOP CEO JH Kim. "ICONLOOP will supply blockchain technology and platforms that can be used across industry and continue working to bring blockchain into the mainstream, contributing to a more convenient and trustworthy society."

ICONLOOP was the first in Korea to independently develop a blockchain core engine, loopchain, open-source it, and apply it across a range of industries, sustaining its efforts to advance and popularize the Korean blockchain industry. Examples include CHAIN ID, the world's first joint blockchain authentication service, with 26 Korean securities firms participating; Kyobo Life Insurance's Smart Insurance Claim service; and the Seoul Metropolitan Government's standard blockchain platform.

This year, the company successfully launched DPASS, a blockchain-based self-sovereign identity verification service, validating its unrivaled technology in DID. In addition, MyID — a blockchain-based mobile identification service built on ICONLOOP's proprietary DID technology — was designated for the Financial Services Commission's Innovative Financial Service regulatory sandbox in June, giving the company the regulatory foundation to run DID services in practice in Korea as it builds real-world use cases for blockchain.

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