Korea Credit Service

What Korea Credit Service does

Korea Credit Service (KCS, 한국평가정보) is Korea's first dedicated full-time credit rating agency for individual business owners (개인사업자), incorporated in June 2021 and operating from Gangnam, Seoul under parent Korea Credit Data (KCD). The company holds Korea's first individual-business-owner-focused Credit Bureau (CB) main license (obtained July 2022) and was designated an Innovation Financial Service provider in April 2025.

The core product is a proprietary credit scoring model that integrates data from three sources — Korea Credit Information Association credit records (55%), National Tax Service HomeTax data (30%), and Credit Finance Association card sales data (15%) — and is validated against AR≥40, KS≥30, PSI<0.1 benchmarks. This model powers a portfolio that includes Credit Note (크레딧노트), a 3-minute consumer-facing credit evaluation platform; credit evaluation reports for loan applications; official credit grade confirmation certificates registered with the G2B/NaraJangTeo procurement portal; and a micro-business policy fund pre-diagnosis service developed with the Korea Small Business Promotion Agency. Through parent KCD's CashNote ecosystem, KCS reaches approximately 2 million business establishments and claims 96% share of active card-processing franchise outlets.

KCS monetizes primarily through B2B contracts with financial institutions on a quote-based model that is not publicly priced, while the Credit Note platform functions as a self-service funnel for individual business owners. The shareholder base is unusually deep for a company at this stage — Korea Credit Data (parent), KakaoBank, iM Bank, Hana Bank, IBK Industrial Bank, KB Kookmin Bank, SGI Seoul Guarantee, Hyundai Capital, Jeonbuk Bank, and Welcome Savings Bank — providing both capital and distribution channels across commercial banking, policy banking, regional banking, savings banking, capital finance, and credit guarantee. Cumulative disclosed corporate funding exceeds 20 billion KRW (~$15M) across rounds in 2022, 2024, and 2025.

Name

Korea Credit Service

Legal name

한국평가정보 주식회사

Website

https://kcs.co.kr

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Korea Credit Service (KCS) is Korea's first dedicated credit rating agency for individual business owners, operating a proprietary multi-source credit scoring model and Credit Note platform that serves over 2 million sole-proprietor establishments and supplies credit evaluation services to Korea's leading financial institutions.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Credit Evaluation Services

NAICS

Credit Bureaus (56145)

SIC

Services-Consumer Credit Reporting, Collection Agencies (7320)

akta.pro primary industry

Loan Operations & Servicing (Consumer/SME/Corporate) (FSABALAD)

Keywords

• Credit evaluation services
• Credit rating agency
• Business credit reports
• Alternative credit scoring
• Small business lending data

Headquarters

HQ city

Seoul

HQ country

South Korea

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Distribution channels2 records

Core offering

Korea Credit Service (KCS) operates as Korea's first dedicated credit rating agency for individual business owners (개인사업자), providing proprietary credit evaluation scoring, official credit grade confirmation certificates, and business performance analysis. The company combines credit bureau data, National Tax Service (HomeTax) records, and card sales transaction data into a unified credit scoring model, delivering evaluations via its consumer-facing Credit Note platform and B2B data services to financial institutions.

Product overview

KCS operates a platform-centered model anchored by its proprietary individual business owner credit evaluation scoring system, which draws on credit bureau, National Tax Service Hometax, and card sales transaction data. The consumer-facing Credit Note (크레딧노트) product serves individual business owners directly, enabling 3-minute credit reports without document submission. Supporting services include official credit grade confirmation documents (신용평가등급확인서) registered with government procurement portals, a micro-business policy fund pre-diagnosis tool, credit inquiry services, credit evaluation consulting, and data services — all built on the same core scoring infrastructure and targeting the same individual business owner segment.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Credit Note (크레딧노트): Personal business credit evaluation service that provides rapid credit evaluations and reports in 3 minutes

Products and services

• Credit Note (크레딧노트) A consumer-facing credit evaluation platform for individual business owners that provides rapid credit assessments, business performance analysis, and private sector credit reports, enabling users to receive a credit evaluation report in as little as 3 minutes without document submission.
• Credit Evaluation Report (신용평가보고서) An on-demand credit evaluation report for individual business owners, issuable in 3 minutes without document submission, intended for use in loan applications, government procurement bidding, and financial service applications.
• Credit Evaluation Grade Confirmation (신용평가등급확인서) An official confirmation document of a business owner's credit evaluation grade, issued for public submission purposes such as government procurement bidding and policy fund applications, registered with G2B/NaraJangTeo.
• Micro-Business Policy Fund Pre-Diagnosis Service (소상공인정책자금 사전진단서비스) A pre-screening tool that helps micro-business owners assess their eligibility and likelihood of approval for government-backed policy funds before making a formal application, developed in cooperation with the Korea Micro Business Agency.
• Individual Business Owner Credit Evaluation Model (개인사업자 신용평가모형) KCS's proprietary credit evaluation scoring model for individual business owners, built on a data architecture combining credit bureau records (55%), National Tax Service Hometax data (30%), and card sales data from the Credit Finance Association (15%), validated against AR ≥ 40, KS ≥ 30, and PSI < 0.1 thresholds.
• Credit Inquiry Service (신용조회서비스) A simplified, accessible credit inquiry service tailored specifically for individual business owners, enabling them to quickly check their credit status using KCS's evaluation framework.
• Credit Evaluation Consulting (신용평가컨설팅) Consulting services provided by KCS's team of credit evaluation experts to financial institutions and business partners seeking to integrate or understand KCS's credit evaluation models and data services.
• Data Services (데이터 서비스) Data services for individual business owners combining card sales transaction data, loan records, National Tax Service data, and public records, offering both accuracy and timeliness for credit assessment purposes, offered to financial institution partners.

Quantifiable outcome

• 3-minute credit rating certificate issuance for public submissions
• +1 more outcomes

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability2 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Small Business Federation (소진공/소상공인시장진흥공단)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for pre-diagnosis service for small business policy funds. Collaboration on government support programs for small business owners.
• Korea Credit Information Association (한국신용정보원)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSource of credit transaction information including loan data, delinquency records, and default information for credit evaluation.
• National Tax Service (국세청)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerData provider for HomeTax information used in credit evaluation. KCS directly collects tax data for business owner credit assessments.
• Credit Finance Association (여신금융협회)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerProvider of card transaction data from member franchises. KCS directly collects card sales information for business performance analysis.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• NICE평가정보 (NICE Credit Information): Korea's largest general-purpose credit bureau, founded 1985. Direct competitor providing consumer and corporate credit evaluation, and the prior employer of multiple KCS executives. Most comparable as a Korean credit bureau serving overlapping financial institution customers.
• KCB (Korea Credit Bureau): Major Korean credit bureau established as a joint venture among Korean financial institutions. Directly comparable as a licensed Korean credit bureau serving banks with consumer and SMB credit evaluation products.
• SCI평가정보 (SCI Credit Information): Established Korean credit information and consulting firm with credit bureau offerings for individuals and businesses. Comparable as a domestic licensed credit bureau targeting similar financial institution clients.

Broad incumbents

• Korea Credit Data (KCD): Parent company of KCS and operator of the CashNote app serving 2M+ individual business establishments. Comparable as the broader financial data platform whose data and distribution underpin KCS, and whose customers overlap significantly.
• Experian: Global credit bureau with consumer and business credit information services, including SMB credit reports and analytics. Comparable as a broad incumbent operating the same credit bureau business model at global scale.
• Equifax: Global credit bureau with consumer and commercial credit information products, including small business credit reporting. Comparable as a broad incumbent credit bureau serving lenders and businesses with similar information products.
• TransUnion: Global credit bureau with consumer and business credit information, SMB credit products, and analytics. Comparable as a broad incumbent in the same global credit bureau category with overlapping product structure.
• CRIF: Italy-based global credit bureau and business information provider with strong presence in EMEA and Asia. Comparable as a global credit bureau operator with SMB and consumer credit data products targeting financial institutions.

Emerging players

• Nova Credit: US-based alternative credit data company that builds credit profiles using alternative data sources. Comparable as an emerging alt-data credit bureau applying non-traditional data sources to underwrite underserved borrowers.
• Credit Karma (Intuit): Consumer credit information and monitoring platform serving consumers directly with free credit scores and reports. Comparable as a consumer-facing credit information platform that translates bureau data into accessible SMB/consumer-facing products.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors10 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Korea Credit Service