[CEO of Seoul fintechlab 2 Startup] 'Tomoarrow,' a startup developing 'KYC,' a solution for verifying the identity of foreign customers

Cho Yongwoo, CEO of Tomoarrow

Verifying foreign customers with unique technology and methods
Significantly reducing payment accidents involving foreigners while entering the rapidly growing foreign payment market

Tomoarrow is a startup developing 'KYC,' a solution for verifying the identity of foreign customers. The company was founded in November 2024 by CEO Cho Yongwoo (38).

CEO Cho said, "Tomoarrow is developing solutions to verify the identity of foreign customers in e-commerce. We thoroughly tailor our solutions for the convenience of end users and the customers that adopt them."

"We focus solely on KYC to verify the identity of foreign customers. We work hard to create inexpensive, lightweight open APIs for immediate integration once you decide to adopt our solutions. For Koreans, customer identity is mainly verified through PASS and simple certificates. However, it is virtually impossible to verify the identity of foreigners because they do not have a Korean number. Therefore, Tomoarrow uses its unique technology and method to verify the identity of foreign customers and deliver the results to payment gateways (PGs). This helps PGs enter the rapidly growing foreign payment market while significantly reducing the foreign payment accident rate."

Tomoarrow is pioneering new markets by networking within the fintech community. "Through fintech networking centered on the 2nd Seoul Fintech Lab, we arrange meetings with PG customers. Afterwards, we share our achievements, verify references, and receive many inquiries."

Shortly after its founding, Tomoarrow received its first round of investment from the Jeonbuk Creative Economy Innovation Center. It is currently seeking follow-up investment.

What made CEO Cho decide to start a new company? "I decided to start a new company when I developed my vision of 'helping foreigners enjoy Korea's attractive content without any inconvenience' after researching fintech and identity authentication for a long time. I realized that 'the authentication process based on information that foreigners don't have' often makes Korean online and offline services out of reach for them, so I decided to start a startup to solve this problem with technology."

After starting his business, Cho said, "I find it rewarding to help foreigners overcome e-commerce barriers and access a wide variety of attractive K-content more easily and conveniently, both online and offline. Helping them experience Korean culture and services casually is the main reason I started Tomoarrow, and it gives me a deep sense of accomplishment every day."

Cho manages the business comprehensively and is responsible for partnerships and attracting investments. CTO Lee Chanu plans and manages the technology roadmap, designing the overall system architecture and selecting the technology stack. Senior Developer Lee Chanhui is responsible for developing core features, reviewing code, and optimizing the distribution process. He is working with the CTO to improve product quality. Cho said, "We are making quick decisions based on our expertise and improving our services."

Regarding plans, Cho said, "In addition to the PGs with which we have already reached agreements, we want to sign official contracts with major Korean PGs in Korea to revolutionize the payment process for foreigners. We want to do more than support foreign payments and authentication within a single country. We aim to integrate and standardize cross-border digital identities, providing users with a single identification system that major services worldwide can trust for a unified authentication."

Founded: November 2024
Main business: provision of solutions for verifying the identity of foreign customers (open API)
Achievements: Attracted investment from the Jeonbuk Creative Economy Innovation Center; Won the grand prize at the 3rd Hana Social Venture University; Received the Excellence Award at the 7th Fintech Idea Exhibition Contest; Won the grand prize at the Idea League; Selected for the 1st Woori Financial Group DINNOlab in Jeonbuk; Moved into the 2nd Seoul Fintech Lab; Signed an agency services contract with NICE Payments Co., Ltd.; Conducted a PoC for customer verification for reverse overseas direct purchases of traditional liquor; Signed an MoU with TMONET Co., Ltd. to launch a transportation service exclusively for foreigners

이진호 기자 jinho2323@hankyung.com