Korean fintech startup Tru Technologies raises $3.1m from local investors

Tru Technologies, a Seoul-based financial technology startup, announced raising $3.1 million in a Series A funding round backed by seven market-leading Korean investors.

In a statement, the securities fintech firm said the investors include Hana Financial Investment, Hanwha Securities, KB Investment, Kiwoom Investment, Korea Growth Investment Corp, Shinhan Capital, and Stonebridge Ventures.

The Series A investment comes a year after Tru Technologies launched TruWeb, its first electronic securities lending platform in Korea. The platform offers an automated system to institutional clients to help them prevent errors and streamline their workflow in securities lending and trading.

“The investments from some of the largest financial institutions and investors in Korea mean that they are committed to the automation of error-prone securities lending transactions,” says Tru Technologies CEO Jae Woo Ha.

Jae previously worked as a securities lending trader at Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong.

“We are starting to see changes in some of the most manual markets globally like Korea and Taiwan. The automation can‘t be delayed for any financial institutions who wish to stay compliant and further increase profitability,” he added.

Tru Technologies said over $130 million have been traded through TruWeb since the lifting of the ban in early May. over $60 million was traded at a lending fee of 4% or above.

With the latest funding round, TruWeb is now integrated with Hana Financial Investment’s proprietary system to further improve service delivery.

According to the announcement, confirmation details are currently being electronically delivered to Hana, removing so-called ‘fat-finger’ errors.

“As a result, for the first time in Korea, all processes of lending transactions, such as searching, negotiating, confirming, and inputting the confirmed details, have been automated to ensure compliance, speed, and efficiency,” the startup said.

TruWeb, which currently serves 25 institutional clients, will continue to add features and tools to improve securities automation further and take it to the next level.