Nine Dog (9DOCK, CEO Kim Yeon-soo) announced that it has attracted about 700 million won worth of seed investment. Accelerator Mark & Company, known as the startup growth analysis platform “Forest of Innovation,” and bio-healthcare company builder Newfly participated in the investment.
Founded in May this year, Nine Dog is a platform that allows users to easily subscribe to services even if they are highly involved in open market commerce or social media channels, and supports subscribing and installing high-priced experienced goods after evaluating customers based on credit data. Protocol APIs are provided when paying for experience services such as overseas travel, language training, and interior design.
Nine Dog previously formed a strategic alliance with Yellow Balloon and Seoul Auction Blue to pay for travel subscriptions and art subscriptions. It will support subscription payment with the optimal AI algorithm by referring to the information history linking big data and ACSS (alternative credit evaluation) score model. “One of the visions is to provide opportunities for consumption of valuable experiences to MZ generation consumers who value experience,” the company explained.
Recently, BNPL cases of experience consumption combined with travel package or air ticket purchase and postpaid subscription payment are increasing, such as Uplift and Kayak in the U.S., Traveloka in Indonesia, and Butter in Europe. Uplift, a travel-specialized BNPL solution, is a service that is in the spotlight as there was an increase in transaction volume of about 1.4 trillion won in 2021.
Hong Kyung-pyo, CEO of Mark & Company, who participated in the investment, said, “Subscription/ installment is already spreading abroad even if it is highly involved,” and added, “We expect that Nine Dog’s team’s experience in subscription and installment systems, creative and customer-oriented systems, and partnership capabilities will quickly dominate the domestic market.”
“Based on this investment, we will accelerate the development of marketing linked to the convenience of BNPL payments and subscription partnerships,” said Kim Yeon-soo, CEO of Nine Dogg.
