Key Takeaways
- KRW 13.4 billion (~$8.8M) raised in a pre-Series A round led by Bass Ventures and DSC Investment
- 10,000+ corporate customers onboarded within two years of Clobe AI’s launch, signaling strong early product-market fit
- KRW 110 billion (~$72.1M) in cumulative loan volume disbursed through V1C’s Clobe Finance arm
- MOU with Hana Financial Group signed in March 2026 to co-develop AI-based credit scoring models for SMBs and the self-employed
Quick Recap
Seoul-based fintech startup V1C has officially closed a pre-Series A funding round worth KRW 13.4 billion (approximately $8.8 million), as announced by The SaaS News on April 1, 2026. The round was led by Bass Ventures and DSC Investment, two prominent early-stage venture capital firms in South Korea. Investors pointed to V1C’s rare combination of financial management software capabilities and a proven in-house lending operation as the primary rationale behind what they described as an unusually large commitment for a pre-Series A company.
V1C’s Platform Architecture
V1C operates through two integrated product lines that together form a full-stack business financial operating system. The first, Clobe AI, is a SaaS solution that aggregates data from bank accounts, credit cards, and tax invoices to deliver real-time cash flow insights and profit-and-loss analysis for businesses of all sizes.
The platform serves over 10,000 corporate customers and is specifically designed to address the acute financial management pain points faced by Korean SMBs and sole proprietors, a segment that the company’s CEO, Eunwook Do, describes as “largely untouched” by B2B-focused innovation. The second pillar, Clobe Finance, functions as a direct lending arm that uses the platform’s data and AI credit models to originate loans to businesses.
As of this funding round, Clobe Finance has recorded a cumulative loan volume of approximately KRW 110 billion (around $72.1 million), establishing V1C as a credible capital provider rather than just a software vendor. This dual-engine model, combining SaaS analytics with active financing, is what distinguishes V1C from conventional accounting software tools in the Korean market.
The company, founded in 2020 and headquartered in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, plans to deploy the fresh capital across three main areas: expanding its AI-driven financial management platform, strengthening its financing capabilities, and scaling both partnerships and product development.
Korea’s SMB Finance Gap and the Hana Partnership
The timing of V1C’s funding aligns with a broader structural shift in South Korea’s SME ecosystem. The Korea Institute for SMEs and Startups (KOSI) identified AI-driven industrial transformation as one of its top 10 issues for 2026, noting that Korean SMEs are entering a “structural transition phase” driven by digital disruption and the urgent need for better financial tooling. V1C’s growth trajectory, from zero to 10,000 corporate clients in under two years, suggests it is filling a real gap in this under-served segment.
A landmark MOU signed between V1C and Hana Financial Group in March 2026 further validates the company’s institutional standing. Under the agreement, the two parties are collaborating on financial product integration, co-marketing initiatives, and the co-development of advanced AI-based credit scoring models aimed at improving financial access for small businesses and self-employed individuals. Hana Financial Group is one of Korea’s largest banking conglomerates, and its willingness to co-build AI credit infrastructure with a pre-Series A startup is a notable signal of confidence in V1C’s technical capabilities.
South Korea’s government has also been actively channeling capital into AI and fintech. The 2025 Korea Global Fund, a ₩2.4 trillion KRW initiative managed by the Korea Venture Investment Corp. (KVIC), specifically identified AI as a new priority sector and has directed global VCs to reinvest into Korean startups. This policy-level tailwind creates a favorable environment for V1C to continue attracting institutional capital beyond this round.
Competitive Landscape
V1C’s most direct competition in the Korean B2B fintech space comes from platforms that also target SME financing and cash flow management, albeit through different approaches. Two relevant players to benchmark against are Fin2B (Seoul) and Rainist / BankSalad (Seoul).
| Feature / Metric | V1C (Clobe AI) | Fin2B | Rainist (BankSalad) |
| Primary Focus | AI financial management SaaS + direct lending for SMBs | Supply chain finance (SCF) and invoice factoring for SMBs | Consumer-facing financial product recommendations + B2B banking APIs |
| Lending Model | Direct in-house lending via Clobe Finance arm (~$72.1M cumulative) | Platform-based receivables trading connecting SMEs and institutional lenders | Not a primary lender; focuses on credit scoring and product matching |
| AI/Analytics Depth | Real-time cash flow, P&L, AI credit scoring via bank/card/invoice aggregation | ERP-linked receivables verification and supply chain data | Personalized financial product recommendations using behavioral data |
| Customer Base | 10,000+ corporate customers (B2B focused) | SMEs in Korea and Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Indonesia) | Multi-million consumer base; expanding to B2B APIs |
| Institutional Partnerships | Hana Financial Group (MOU, March 2026) | Mirae Asset and 5+ investors; active in Vietnam and Indonesia | Major Korean banks and card companies via API integrations |
| Funding Stage | Pre-Series A: ~$8.8M (April 2026) | Multiple rounds over 7 rounds with Mirae Asset backing | Growth stage with substantial VC backing from multiple rounds |
| Geographic Scope | Korea (domestic expansion focus) | Korea + Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Indonesia) | Primarily Korea |
Strategic Analysis
V1C leads among these peers in the depth of its integrated software-plus-lending model, with Clobe AI’s real-time aggregation layer providing a moat that pure lending platforms like Fin2B cannot easily replicate. Fin2B, however, has a clear advantage in cross-border reach and supply chain finance specialization for larger enterprise supply chains.
Rainist occupies a different lane, primarily consumer-first, but its B2B API pivot makes it a potential future rival for financial data infrastructure in the SMB segment. V1C’s partnership with Hana Financial Group gives it institutional distribution that neither Fin2B nor Rainist currently matches at the SMB lending level.
Bayelsa Watch’s Takeaway
In my view, this is one of the more compelling early-stage fintech rounds to come out of Korea this year, and not just because of the headline number. I think what makes V1C genuinely interesting is its refusal to be only a software company.
Most AI accounting or cash flow tools are content to sit upstream of the lending decision. V1C has chosen to own the full loop, from insight to credit, and that changes the business model in a meaningful way. When your software generates the cash flow data and your lending arm uses that same data to underwrite loans, you have a structural information advantage that a bank or a standalone SaaS tool simply cannot replicate.
I generally prefer founders who identify a durable market structure problem rather than riding a trend cycle. Eunwook Do’s framing, that B2B financial services in Korea remain “largely untouched” while B2C has seen waves of innovation, is the kind of sharp market observation that tends to age well.
The Hana Financial Group MOU, signed just weeks before this round closed, tells me V1C is already negotiating from a position of credibility rather than aspiration. That is bullish. For the Korean SMB economy, which KOSI itself identifies as entering a structural transition driven by AI and tightening global conditions, a platform that combines live financial intelligence with accessible credit could prove to be genuinely transformative. I will be watching the Series A closely.
