MODU

What MODU does

MODU (legal entity: (주)모두; service brand: 모두의비상금, "Everyone's Emergency Fund") is a privately held South Korean fintech founded in 2015 and headquartered in Seoul. The company operates a mobile prepaid card platform that enables individual Korean consumers aged 19 and above to convert three categories of underutilized balances — mobile carrier micro-payments, accumulated loyalty points, and gift vouchers — into a single loadable prepaid card balance. Users register a virtual card through the MODU app (available on Google Play and Apple App Store) and can top up between KRW 10,000 and KRW 750,000 per month, then spend at any online or offline merchant accepting card payments, with offline contactless capability delivered via TouchPay NFC infrastructure.

The platform's core technology is a thin integration layer connecting Korea's three major mobile carriers (SKT, KT, LGU+) plus eligible MVNOs to a prepaid card issuance and payment-acceptance backend. On top of the carrier-billing rail, MODU has integrated at least eight loyalty point programs (OK캐쉬백, L.Point, ItemMania, Rivmate, BC Top Point, Happy Money Cache, Wibi Kkulmoney, My Shinhan Point) and multiple gift voucher systems (Happy Money, BooknLife, mobile and book gift vouchers). The company holds no disclosed patents or proprietary AI capabilities and differentiates on integration breadth rather than algorithmic technology. Customer support and engagement run through a KakaoTalk business channel and a phone-based service desk (1544-9806), reflecting a low-overhead, digitally distributed operating model.

MODU generates revenue through per-transaction service fees charged to users each time they load their prepaid card, with fee levels set within the bounds of applicable Korean regulations and not publicly disclosed. The company is founder-led under CEO Heo Myeong-jae (허명재), with no disclosed institutional investors, no funding rounds, no subsidiaries, and no M&A activity. Geographic and demographic scope is explicitly constrained: service is restricted to Korean nationals aged 19 or older, and the platform does not serve enterprise or SMB customers, making MODU a single-country, single-persona B2C fintech utility.

Name

MODU

Legal name

(주)모두

Website

https://modubiz.co.kr

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Short description

MODU (모두의비상금) is a Seoul-based South Korean fintech that runs a mobile prepaid card platform enabling Korean consumers aged 19+ to convert mobile micro-payments, loyalty points, and gift vouchers into a single spendable prepaid card balance usable online and offline via TouchPay NFC.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Mobile Payments

NAICS

Credit Card Issuing (522210), Credit Card Issuing (52221)

SIC

Finance Services (6199)

akta.pro primary industry

Prepaid Card Program Managers & Issuers (BIN Sponsors) (FSAMANAK)

akta.pro secondary industry

Carrier Billing & Telco Mobile Money (FSAMAEAD)

Keywords

• Mobile prepaid cards
• Micro-payment conversion
• Loyalty point exchange
• NFC contactless payment
• Prepaid card platform

Headquarters

HQ city

Incheon

HQ country

South Korea

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Service Usage Fees: Fees charged to members when they use the service to charge their cards. Members pay service fees as specified by the company when charging their prepaid card balance.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

MODU operates a mobile prepaid card platform that lets Korean consumers convert mobile carrier micro-payments (KRW 10,000–750,000 monthly), loyalty points (OK Cashbag, L.Point, ItemMania, etc.), and gift vouchers (Happy Money, BooknLife, mobile and book gift cards) into a prepaid virtual card balance. The balance is used at any merchant accepting card payments online or offline via the TouchPay NFC contactless mobile app card.

Product overview

MODU (모두의비상금), operated by (주)모두, is a unified mobile fintech platform offering a single core product: 모두의 비상금 (MODU Emergency Fund). This product combines four interlocking capabilities — a mobile app card (모바일앱카드), mobile micro-payment conversion (휴대폰 소액결제 전환), and point/gift voucher conversion (포인트 및 상품권 전환) — all accessible through a mobile app available on Android and iOS. Users sign up, register a virtual prepaid card, and load funds via their preferred method (mobile carrier billing or loyalty points/gift vouchers) up to a monthly cap, then pay anywhere card payments are accepted online or offline, including via TouchPay NFC contactless terminals. The platform targets Korean residents aged 19+ across all carriers and MVNOs.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• 모두의 비상금 (MODU Emergency Fund) Core prepaid card platform from (주)모두 that lets Korean consumers aged 19+ register via the mobile app, receive a virtual prepaid card, and load funds using mobile micro-payments, loyalty points, or gift vouchers for use at any card-accepting merchant online or offline.
• 모바일앱카드 (Mobile App Card) Virtual prepaid card issued through the MODU app without requiring physical card delivery; registered by the user in-app and used for contactless NFC payments via TouchPay or for online purchases at any merchant accepting card payments.
• 휴대폰 소액결제 전환 서비스 (Mobile Micro-Payment Conversion) Converts mobile phone carrier micro-payments (small-amount payment charges) into emergency fund credit on the MODU card, ranging from KRW 10,000 to KRW 750,000 per month; available to subscribers of SKT, KT, LGU+, and eligible MVNOs.
• 포인트 및 상품권 전환 서비스 (Point & Gift Voucher Conversion) Converts loyalty points (OK Cashbag, L.Point, ItemMania, Rivmate, Happy Money Cache, BC Top Point, Wibi Kkulmoney, My Shinhan Point) and gift vouchers (Happy Money, BooknLife, mobile and book gift vouchers) into emergency fund credit on the MODU card in full or in the desired amount.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration13 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• SKT (SK Telecom)coreTechnology or IntegrationPrimary telecommunications partner enabling mobile micro-payment conversion service for SKT subscribers.
• KT (Korea Telecom)coreTechnology or IntegrationPrimary telecommunications partner enabling mobile micro-payment conversion service for KT subscribers.
• LGU+coreTechnology or IntegrationPrimary telecommunications partner enabling mobile micro-payment conversion service for LGU+ subscribers.
• 알뜰폰 (MVNO) PartnerscoreTechnology or IntegrationMobile virtual network operators supported for mobile micro-payment conversion when eligible.
• OK캐쉬백coreTechnology or IntegrationLoyalty point system integrated for point-to-emergency fund conversion.
• 롯데 L포인트coreTechnology or IntegrationLotte loyalty point system integrated for point-to-emergency fund conversion.
• 아이템매니아coreTechnology or IntegrationItemmania mileage point system integrated for point-to-emergency fund conversion.
• 리브메이트coreTechnology or IntegrationRivmate loyalty program integrated for point-to-emergency fund conversion.
• BC 탑포인트coreTechnology or IntegrationBC TopPoint loyalty system integrated for point-to-emergency fund conversion.
• 해피머니/북앤라이프coreTechnology or IntegrationHappymoney and Booknlife gift card systems integrated for gift card-to-emergency fund conversion.

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Toss (토스): Toss is a Korean super-app offering payments, prepaid cards, and consumer finance products. It overlaps with MODU's prepaid card and payment functionality but operates at a much larger scale with broader product suite, including Toss Card and point aggregation features.
• Kakao Pay (카카오페이): Kakao Pay is a major Korean mobile payment platform with QR/online payments, prepaid balance, and merchant services. It competes for the same mobile-billing-connected user base and has direct capability to add loyalty-point conversion features that overlap with MODU.
• Naver Pay (네이버페이): Naver Pay is a leading Korean mobile payment service integrated with Naver's ecosystem. It offers offline/online payments, prepaid balance, and integrations with Naver Points and partner loyalty programs, competing for similar prepaid-card use cases.

Broad incumbents

• Shinhan Card (신한카드): Shinhan Card is one of Korea's top card issuers with deep retail banking integration through its parent Shinhan Financial Group. Its My Shinhan Point program is actually integrated into MODU's platform, but as an incumbent it could disintermediate MODU by launching direct point-to-card services.
• Samsung Card (삼성카드): Samsung Card is one of Korea's largest credit and debit card issuers with full card management infrastructure. While it does not focus on micro-payment-to-card conversion, it competes for the same Korean consumer wallet share and could easily enter the prepaid/virtual card space.
• Hyundai Card (현대카드): Hyundai Card is a major Korean issuer of branded credit, debit, and prepaid cards. It is comparable as a broad incumbent in the Korean card market with capabilities to issue prepaid products similar to MODU's, though its focus is on traditional credit cardholders rather than the underbanked segment MODU serves.
• L.Pay (엘페이): L.Pay is Lotte Group's integrated mobile payment and loyalty platform, supporting prepaid balance and L.Point integration. It is comparable as a regional Korean payment player with overlapping prepaid/loyalty functionality.

Others

• L.Point (롯데 L포인트): L.Point is Lotte Group's integrated loyalty point ecosystem spanning retail, department stores, and L.Pay. Like OK Cashbag, it is integrated into MODU as a point source but operates as an upstream loyalty provider that could directly offer conversion services to its 20M+ members.
• OK Cashbag (OK캐쉬백): OK Cashbag is a major Korean loyalty point program operated by SK Encar. As a current integration partner of MODU, it represents the upstream loyalty ecosystem that MODU aggregates — making it an ecosystem participant rather than direct competitor, but its underlying user relationships could enable disintermediation.

Emerging players

• Cashwalk (캐시워크): Cashwalk is a Korean rewards app that converts user activity (walking, ads) into cash rewards and supports point-to-cash conversion. It is comparable to MODU as a smaller, emerging player operating in the point/cash conversion niche in Korea.

Market position

Strengths1 record

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 MODU