"Our Role is to Help People Easily Identify Quality Companies and Avoid Distressed Ones"
On the 24th, in the office located in Seongdong-gu, Seoul, Park Jae-joon, CEO of the fintech startup Antock, introduced the company with the following words. The company's goal is to resolve the information asymmetry problem in the financial industry through IT technology.
Antock ’s Competitiveness and the Need for "Alternative Data"
To understand how Antock is solving the information asymmetry issue, we need to first look at the concept of alternative data that Antock uses. This is also the company’s differentiating competitive advantage. Alternative data, used to gain insights during the financial investment process, is often referred to as non-financial data. In other words, it is data that provides another level of analysis of company performance, beyond traditional financial information like balance sheets and corporate disclosures.
Antock collects and analyzes alternative data, including information from sources such as:
These are all combined and analyzed alongside financial data, with Antock handling both financial and non-financial data for publicly traded and private companies.
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The Importance of Alternative Data
There’s a clear reason for the necessity of alternative data. According to the existing credit evaluation systems, more than 90% of companies fall into the B or BB rating category (based on December 2020 data from NICE Information Service). Despite varying operations and risks across companies, they are often categorized with similar credit ratings.
But why is it important to improve this low discriminative power? For investors, this means the ability to identify high-tech companies early and manage risk more accurately by identifying distressed companies. This is where Antock’s differentiation lies compared to traditional credit rating agencies, which only provide data based on financial information and industry classification codes based on standard industrial classifications, failing to reflect new technologies.
Expanding Business Areas with Hubble DB… Experimenting with Overseas Data
Antock’s Hubble DB is an automated big data solution that collects more than 300 types of data on over one million corporate entities in South Korea. It uses this data to measure performance and analyze risks. The analysis methods include:
In simpler terms, Hubble DB has essentially digitalized the entire domestic corporate ecosystem.
Antock’s MRI is an AI solution capable of diagnosing over 2,000 items per company with a single click. It divides the analysis into 10 key areas such as:
It combines management diagnostics and performance forecasting. The Antock MRI service generates synergy thanks to Hubble DB, which provides the data, followed by automatic preprocessing (data modification to fit specific analyses), standardization, and the application of AI analysis models.
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What are Antock's Achievements?
Antock’s performance has been impressive so far. This year, the company has set a target of 2 billion KRW in annual revenue. However, in just the first quarter, it has already generated about 1.3 billion KRW in revenue. The company plans to achieve 5 billion KRW in revenue by 2023 and over 50 billion KRW by 2024.
Currently, Antock operates on a B2B (business-to-business) model. The services are typically sold on an annual subscription basis, providing a stable revenue model.
Business Expansion Plans
The company is also preparing for business expansion in several areas:
These expansions will be pursued through collaborations with other companies. One of the key goals for this year is to break into the first-tier financial institutions. Antock recently signed a contract with KB Kookmin Bank to integrate the Hubble DB across all branches.
Exploring International Data Analysis
Antock is also attempting to gather and analyze data from overseas companies. Park Jae-jun, the CEO, stated, “In a way, Hubble DB has digitized the domestic economic ecosystem of Korea, which ranks 12th in global GDP. When you think about it, we could do the same for countries ranked 11th or 13th.” He added, “That’s why we’ve started experiments in small city-states like Singapore, Israel, and Luxembourg this year.”
