ID Tech Company 'Hopaet' Secures 6 Billion KRW Seed Investment

Digital identity authentication solution provider Hopae has secured 6 billion KRW in seed (early-stage) investment.

According to Hopae on the 29th, SV Investment led this seed investment, with participation from Japan's Z Venture Capital and Bon Angels Venture Partners. Bon Angels Venture Partners participated consecutively from the pre-seed to the seed investment rounds.

Decentralized Identity (DID) technology is a third-generation digital identity technology that solves privacy infringement issues of the existing centralized identity model and is tamper-proof. Since being designated as a web standard in July 2022, it has attracted attention from governments worldwide. In particular, the digital identity market's potential is very large due to the 'eIDAS 2.0' legislation on electronic identification, authentication, and signature, which came into effect in the European Union (EU) last May. By 2026, all EU member states are required to establish infrastructure to provide digital identity wallets to citizens, and 180 billion KRW has been allocated to six pilot projects over the past two years.

Hopae is a startup founded in 2022 by CEO Shim Jae-hoon, the general director of COOV, a vaccine certification service used nationwide during the COVID-19 pandemic, aiming for global market expansion. Since then, based on its proprietary patented technology called Digital Credential eXpress (DCX), Hopae has been building digital ID and authentication systems and leading the standardization of DID open-source technology.

Choi Il-yong, senior team leader at SV Investment, said, "Within the next 2 to 3 years, digital identity authentication services will be naturally used in both online and offline environments," adding, "Every player who wants to provide DID services will knowingly or unknowingly use Hopae's technology in their business."

Hopae CEO Shim Jae-hoon stated, "The digital identity market size is estimated at 600 trillion KRW in Europe alone, indicating its huge potential," and added, "Since Hopae's outstanding open-source technology was a key factor in pioneering the conservative European market, we plan to actively recruit world-class developers and talents to establish global business and strategies."