Korea Credit Data Sales Surge 2.3x

Korea Credit Data (KCD) has solidified its position as a technology company supporting the management of small business owners, recording remarkable growth even amidst a challenging market environment. Its separate-account revenue for 2024 surged 2.3 times year-on-year to 15.1 billion KRW, which is analyzed to be largely due to the successful establishment of subscription-based products like 'Cashnote Plus Membership'. Consolidated revenue increased by approximately 5% to 142.8 billion KRW, but this is interpreted as a result of the reorganization of non-core businesses and portfolio adjustments within its affiliates. Although operating loss increased by 31% year-on-year to 38 billion KRW due to increased labor costs (29.1 billion KRW) and stock compensation expenses (9.1 billion KRW), KCD explained this as part of strategic talent investment and infrastructure reinforcement for future growth. In fact, KCD secured sufficient liquidity by attracting 100 billion KRW from Morgan Stanley Tactical Value in 2023 and 50 billion KRW from Hanwha Life in 2024, actively recruiting excellent talent amidst the startup industry's restructuring and thereby securing growth momentum. Its business foundation has expanded explosively. The number of businesses adopting Cashnote exceeded 1.3 million at the end of 2023, 1.6 million at the end of 2024, and now 1.7 million as of April 2025. This represents over 20% growth in just one year. Including businesses that have adopted Creditnote, VAN, PG, POS, kiosks, and other solutions from its affiliates, a total of 2.5 million small business owners are utilizing KCD's solutions, demonstrating an overwhelming market share. KCD is contributing to maximizing the management efficiency of small business owners with innovative services incorporating AI technology. The 'AI Expense Auto-Categorization' feature automatically recognizes and categorizes expense details, reducing work burden, while 'Cashnote Checkpoint', based on data from 1.7 million businesses, provides AI-driven management consulting, offering specific solutions from commercial area analysis to sales growth strategies. Additionally, the 'Small Business Data Lab' provides customized analysis reports and survey functions, supporting decision-making for businesses and policymakers based on real data. Innovation has also continued in the payment service sector. 'Cashnote Pay', introduced with its subsidiary Korea Payment Networks, allows real-time remote sales management solely with a smartphone app without a separate POS device, and the 'Cashnote Pay Terminal' further enhanced operational convenience for small business owners through its 'Regular Customer Recognition' feature, which automatically identifies regular customers based on card information, and its 'Daily Fast Settlement' feature, which deposits sales revenue on the next business day. A KCD official stated, "With a growth-oriented stance and a strategy to secure excellent talent, we recorded over three times year-on-year growth in the first quarter of this year," emphasizing that the company will continue to innovate its technology and services to make the overall business operations of small business owners "easier, faster, and smarter."