[Edaily Marketin, Reporter Song Seung-Hyeon ] Even when leasing the same car under the same terms, monthly payments vary by financial institution. Consumers had no way to verify these differences—a single quote provided by a dealership or sales representative was all they had. Chazm has consolidated these quotes onto a single screen. It collects and compares new car lease and long-term rental terms from 15 to 16 financial institutions and handles the entire process—from credit review to contract signing—remotely. The service is operated by Design & Practice Co., Ltd.

According to the venture capital (VC) industry on the 23rd, FuturePlay has made three consecutive investments in Design & Practice, ranging from Pre-Series A to Series A. Following a 2.1 billion won Pre-A round and a 2.7 billion won bridge round in 2024, a 14.1 billion won Series A round was secured in January of this year. The cumulative funding raised totals 18.9 billion won. The Series A round was led by StoneBridge Ventures, with participation from KB Investment, ZeroOne Ventures, LX Ventures, and Shorouk of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Subsequently, Woori Financial Capital and Korea Credit Bureau (KCB) also joined as strategic investors. For KCB, this marks its first equity investment in a startup since its establishment.

Chasm spun off from Finda, a loan comparison platform, in May 2024 as an internal venture. CEO Jeong Sang-yeon graduated from Hanyang University’s Department of Economics and worked in Hana Bank’s Future Financial Strategy Division. He was seconded to Finda in 2020 and joined the company full-time the following year, taking charge of the Product Group. In 2022, he launched the lease and rental business as an internal venture. The company’s name is derived from the English word “chasm.” CEO Jeong explained, “It signifies our intention to break through the growth stagnation in the car rental market by innovating its distribution channels.”

Chasm’s differentiated business model lies in changing who pays the commission. In traditional lease and rental brokerage, agencies charged consumers 3–8% of the vehicle’s price. Chasm eliminates this commission and instead receives sales commissions from financial institutions and car rental companies. CEO Jeong stated, “We’ve eliminated the brokerage fees that intermediaries used to charge consumers and instead receive sales commissions from the financial institutions that sell the lease products.” This model is supported by a data layer that consolidates the varying terms, residual values, and promotions offered by different financial institutions into a single format, as well as automated, contactless credit screening. Half of the company’s workforce is part of the research and development team.

Growth has been rapid. The number of monthly contracts rose from 8 in June 2024—the service’s first month—to 1,002 in June of this year. During the same period, monthly transaction volume increased from 450 million won to 41.37 billion won. Last August, monthly transaction volume approached 50 billion won, and monthly revenue exceeded 1 billion won. Profitability has also gradually improved, with the company posting its first profit in October of last year. It has 300,000 registered members and cumulative transaction volume of 118 billion won. Eighty percent of its customers are first-time users of lease or rental services, and six out of every ten vehicles delivered in the first half of this year were electric vehicles.

Its direct competitor is Getcha, a new car quote comparison platform. Getcha posted revenue of 27.05 billion won last year. Its real competitors, however, are offline dealerships and sales representatives. CEO Jeong said that in the early days of the service, the company was dubbed the “public enemy” within the industry. Profitability is still in its early stages. With a monthly transaction volume of 50 billion won and monthly revenue of 1 billion won, the effective commission rate stands at around 2%. Since the business model involves selling in large volumes with low margins, scaling up volume is essential.

Chazum is building a model that extends beyond the contract itself. On the 13th, it launched a transfer service that allows users to assign their long-term lease contracts to others, and in partnership with Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, it introduced a group insurance plan exclusively for lease and rental customers, with the company covering the premiums. It has also introduced box trucks for vehicle transport. Additionally, the company is preparing to launch a business exporting returned vehicles to Japan and the Middle East. Last November, the company was selected for the Financial Services Commission’s “K-Fintech 30” program. The company aims to increase its monthly brokerage volume—currently around 1,200 vehicles—to 3,800 by the end of the year and, following a Series B funding round, expand into the Japanese market by 2028.