Sodacrew, the startup behind fintech service SodaTransfer for making overseas wire transfers, has received seed investment from AI Angel Club and other US angel investors.
Korean banks are well known for offering over-complicated and frustrating online services, due in part to clunky digital certificates and ActiveX plugins. SodaTransfer is all about making the experience of sending money overseas easier, with a nice-looking and easy-to-use interface.
Sending money between US and Korea can be up to 90% cheaper through the platform for amounts under USD $1000, while banks often charge 6-7% in fees.
AI Angel Club CEO Choi Sung-ho says that the service has the potential to do well overseas and a high user retention rate combined with service that appealed to American customers was the catalyst for funding Sodacrew.
“It’s impressive to see a Korean startup take on the challenge of the US, which is the largest overseas remittance market in the world,” says Choi. “Having used the app myself I believe SodaTransfer has the potential to be competitive in the US and other countries.”
Sodacrew plans to use the investment to recruit more staff and expand its global marketing strategy. The company was selected for accelerator Born2Global earlier this year and received legal and financial support. In addition to this, it has been preparing to enter China through Neoply’s and Incheon CCEI’s China Investment Program.
“SodaTransfer doesn’t use cryptocurrency such as bitcoin, and safely takes care of overseas wire transfers by working with national banks and payment companies,” says Sodacrew CEO Daniel Lee. “At the beginning of this year, we established partnerships with US financial institutions. Leading on from this, we plan to expand our US-Korea wire service to China, Vietnam and Indonesia.”
