South Korean securities lending fintech startup bags $3.1m in series A money

Tru Technologies, a securities fintech firm based in both South Korea and Hong Kong, announced that it raised US$3.1 million in series A funding from seven institutional investors.

They include Hana Financial Investment, Hanwha Securities, KB Investment, Kiwoom Investment, Korea Growth Investment Corp, Shinhan Capital, and Stonebridge Ventures.

Manual markets such as South Korea and Taiwan are ripe for automation, says Tru. / Photo credit: 123rf

Founded in 2015, Tru is a fintech company focusing on developing, deploying, and operating enterprise-grade software products. It provides tech solutions to global financial institutions, investors, and corporates in a secure and transparent way.

The new fund will be used to improve TruWeb, which the company says is the first electronic securities lending platform in the country.

Over US$130 million has been traded through Tru’s platform, which features secure automation and analytics. Institutions that have signed up with the service have grown from six to 25 since the start of 2021.

“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,” said Tru CEO Jae Woo Ha.

The chief executive, who was a lending trader at Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong, said that manual markets such as South Korea and Taiwan are seeing changes, so financial institutions aiming for compliance and increased profitability should not delay automation.

TruWeb is now also integrated with Hana Financial Investment, which received confirmation details and removes fat-finger errors. This also fully automates lending transaction processes.