This article was displayed on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 4:07 p.m. on Jan. 2, 2026.
Affinit, the operator of "TrueBalance," which has captured the India market as an alternative finance platform for small loans, will seek a listing in the first half. It recently completed a pre-IPO (fundraising before listing), winning a valuation of 370 billion won. The listing valuation is expected to start at more than 500 billion won.
According to the venture capital (VC) industry on the 2nd, Affinit has finalized its plan to pursue a listing this year and set a plan to file for a preliminary review for listing with the Korea Exchange (KRX) in the first half. It plans to accelerate preparations for the listing, including audits, as soon as the settlement of account for last year is completed. Mirae Asset Securities and Hana Securities are the lead underwriters.
Affinit was founded in 2014 as the successor to Balancehero, a Korean Fintech startup better known in India for small loans. Chief Executive Lee Cheol-won, who sold coloring (call connecting tone) solutions to Asian telecom operators at SK Telecom subsidiary Widerden, established the company to target India's financial market.
Affinit hit what it called the jackpot by adding a smartphone-based small, short-term loan service to the application (app) "TrueBalance," which informs users of their prepaid mobile phone balances. It secured more than 100 million users by lending about 200,000 won to India's middle class for three to six months, who have difficulty obtaining bank loans.
Affinit's cumulative loan handling amount totals 130 billion rupees, or 2 trillion won. It even built an alternative credit scoring system (ACS) that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze nonfinancial data on smartphones such as text messages, calls, apps, and location information, sending revenue soaring from 9.1 billion won in 2020 to 146 billion won last year.
Affinit's acceleration toward a listing is believed to have been influenced by the recent success of its pre-IPO. Contrary to concerns that the company's core business—small loans for India's middle class—could be classified as lending and thus make a listing impossible, investor interest has continued.
In last year's 30 billion won pre-IPO fundraising, VC firms including Mirae Asset Venture Investment, Smilegate Investment, Kolon Investment, GURUM Investment, Double Capital, and Big Move Ventures joined en masse as financial investors (FIs).
FIs were said to have highly valued the fact that Affinit established itself in India's formal sector by fronting ACS. Beyond originating its own loans, it expanded into a platform business by supplying ACS to Indian financial companies and collecting fees, with the platform accounting for more than 30% of total revenue in 2024.
The company plans to expand its business beyond lending into brokering various financial products such as insurance, while focusing funds raised through the pre-IPO on strengthening ACS and entering emerging markets. The listing valuation is expected to be 500 billion won, about 1.3 times the 370 billion won enterprise value recognized in the pre-IPO.
A source in the investment bank (IB) industry said, "Contrary to the view that a listing would be difficult for a lending business, the success of the pre-IPO appears to have boosted confidence in the listing," adding, "As the ACS business has taken hold, it likely exceeded last year's original operating profit target of 26 billion won."
Meanwhile, the Financial Supervisory Service issued an interpretation in 2009 that the listing of lending companies conflicts with the Banking Act. Under the Banking Act, "banking" is the business of lending funds raised by accepting deposits or issuing debt instruments such as securities, and the Financial Supervisory Service determined that a lending company without a banking license cannot raise funds through a listing.