South Korean property technology startup Kasa said Oct. 18 it has raised a combined 7 billion won ($5.9 million) in its latest series A funding round to hire staff and strengthen its solution partly powered by blockchain.

The funding round came from institutional investors including Woomi Construction, KEB Hana Bank, Shinhan Financial Investment, AF Investment and Kclavis Investment, according to Kasa.

This came after a 3.3 billion-won funding round from early-stage venture investors including Kakao Ventures, Bon Angels, MashUp Angels and FuturePlay. 

Founded in April 2018 by CEO Yea Chang-wan, Kasa is dedicated to building a platform that allows retail investors to buy and trade securitized commercial real estate assets in the form of asset-backed securities.

The ABS will be issued by banks and real estate investment trusts using the properties as collateral. Engaged in the platform are commercial banks KEB Hana Bank and KB Kookmin Bank, as well as investment trust vehicles Korea Real Estate Investment & Trust, Korea Asset Investment Trust and Koramco REITs Management & Trust.

Kasa’s technology, using blockchain to securitize assets, seeks to obtain a regulatory sandbox approval for two years by the Financial Services Commission, which will make the startup exempt from regulations in terms of issuing and trading securities by authorities like the Korea Exchange.

By Son Ji-hyoung (consnow@heraldcorp.com)