Namanecard
Seoul, KR · 1 known investors
Namane is a customizable prepaid card for travelers in South Korea that combines public transportation payment, retail purchases, and personal design expression through photos or illustrations. The card can be issued at kiosks near airports, transit stations, and tourist sites, with associated mobile app functionality for balance management, top-ups, and money transfers.
Also known as NAMANE · NAMANE CARD · 나마네카드
Investors · 1
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Namane (NAMANE CARD) is a prepaid card product for use in South Korea that combines a payment balance and a public transport balance on a single card whose face can be customized with a user-supplied photo, illustration or text. Cardholders design the card in the NAMANE app or on the web, generate a QR code, and issue the physical card at a kiosk; cards can also be purchased online or redeemed through vouchers sold by travel commerce platforms. The payment balance works at Korean merchants accepting card payment, including convenience stores, cafes, restaurants, shopping centers and unmanned kiosks, via IC chip insertion or QR payment, while the transit balance is used by tapping on buses and subways through the Rail+ transportation card service operated by Korea Railroad Corporation.
The accompanying NAMANE app (Android package com.iaurora.cardforme, published by i-aurora / (주)아이오로라) supports card registration and management of up to four cards per account, balance and transaction history lookup, top-ups, conversion between pay and transit balances without a conversion fee, transfers of pay balance to other NAMANE users or to a Korean bank account, cash withdrawal at CU convenience stores, coupon registration, card locking in case of loss, refunds/cancellation, and income-deduction registration. Top-up channels include cash and credit/debit cards at kiosks, and in the app international credit/debit cards (Visa, Mastercard, JCB), international digital wallets (Alipay, Alipay+, WeChat Pay), real-time bank transfer, virtual account numbers and cash top-up at CU convenience stores. Marketing emphasizes that no separate identity verification or passport scan is required for foreign visitors to use and top up the card.
The company operates a customer service center with weekday and Saturday hours, a phone line (1588-3073), web chat, and official Twitter, Instagram and TikTok accounts, and publishes notices and blog posts in Korean, English, Japanese and Simplified Chinese.
Business model
Revenue is tied to the sale and issuance of physical prepaid cards through kiosks, online purchase and third-party travel commerce vouchers, plus stored-value top-ups and associated services such as withdrawals, transfers and merchant cashback/benefit programs. The purchase price covers the card only; the loaded balance must be topped up separately.
Card sales and issuance fees (for example a voucher priced from USD 4.98 on Pelago, excluding the loaded balance), prepaid balance top-ups through kiosks and app channels, and merchant benefit/cashback programs.
Traction
The NAMANE: Pay & Transit Card Android app lists more than 100,000 downloads on Google Play and was updated on 2026-08-07. The Pelago listing for the customizable prepaid card carries a 4.0 average rating from 7 verified reviews, with a listed price from USD 4.98, and is labeled a bestseller on that platform; reviews from travelers span roughly three years and cite easy redemption at Incheon Airport CU stores alongside complaints about locating kiosks and unclear redemption instructions.
Latest developments
Notices published on the English site cover a money transfer service between NAMANE members and restrictions on abnormal transaction card usage. A 2023-05-17 notice documents customer service hours and channels. The website's current positioning centers on a K-culture travel card with K-POP card and K-POP pass issuance kiosks, Alipay+ wallet top-ups, CU convenience store cash withdrawal, and wallet management of up to four cards; the Android app received an update described as changes to the card usage experience on 2026-08-07.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, risks & controversies
Market position
Positioned as a travel-oriented prepaid pay-and-transit card in South Korea, sold alongside other tourist transportation cards on travel activity marketplaces and differentiated by user-designed card faces and K-culture themed products.
The product positions personalization as its distinguishing feature versus standard travel transit cards: users put their own photos, favorite artists or illustrations on the card so it functions both as a payment/transit instrument and a keepsake. Other stated differentiators are issuance without separate ID or passport verification for foreigners, combined pay and transit balances with fee-free conversion, and top-up support for international cards and overseas wallets.
Technology
The service combines a card-design web/app tool that converts user images into a print-ready QR job for kiosk card issuance, kiosks that print and dispense personalized cards and accept cash and card top-ups, a prepaid payment balance usable via IC chip and QR, and a transit balance running on the Rail+ transportation card service operated by Korea Railroad Corporation. The mobile app connects top-up rails including international card networks, Alipay/Alipay+ and WeChat Pay wallets, bank transfer and virtual accounts, and provides card locking, balance conversion and peer-to-peer transfers.
Go-to-market
Distribution is through self-service kiosks located near airports (Incheon, Gimpo), major stations (Seoul Station, Myeongdong), tourist and K-culture districts such as Hongdae, and sites across Seoul, Gyeonggi/Incheon, Gangwon, Chungcheong/Daejeon, Jeolla/Gwangju, Gyeongbuk/Daegu and Gyeongnam/Busan, with separate kiosk types for full-image cards, K-POP cards and K-POP passes. Cards are also sold online and through online travel activity marketplaces such as Pelago, where customers buy a QR voucher redeemed at a kiosk. Apps are distributed on the App Store and Google Play, and the company runs a multilingual website plus Twitter, Instagram and TikTok channels.
Inbound travelers and foreign visitors to South Korea, including K-pop and K-culture tourists, who need transit and card payment access without Korean identity verification; the Pelago listing markets the product as foreigners-only.
Geography
South Korea, with kiosks grouped by region across Seoul, Gyeonggi/Incheon, Gangwon, Chungcheong/Daejeon, Jeolla/Gwangju, Gyeongbuk/Daegu and Gyeongnam/Busan, including Incheon and Gimpo airports, Seoul Station, Myeongdong and Hongdae. Redemption points listed for the Pelago voucher include the Incheon Airport Direct Train Terminal 1 branch and Incheon Airport Terminal 1 CU stores. The developer address for the app is in Dongjak-gu, Seoul.
Risks & controversies
Customer reviews on Pelago report difficulty locating kiosks and CU redemption points at Incheon Airport, unclear redemption instructions, QR scanning problems at machines, and limits on where top-ups can be made; one reviewer said no one at the airport information counter knew where to collect the card. The listing also states the voucher is non-cancellable and non-refundable, and that the recharge amount is not included.
Compiled by commissioned research from 6 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Timeline · 4
launches, deals, and filingsGoogle Play listing for NAMANE: Pay & Transit Card, published by i-aurora, shows an update dated Aug 7, 2026 described as updates to the card usage experience.
Pelago lists the Customizable Prepaid Debit Card - Namane Card (Foreigners Only) as a bestseller voucher redeemable at Namane kiosks in Korea.
The company states its cards work on subways and buses nationwide via the Rail+ transportation card service operated by Korea Railroad Corporation.
A notice on the NAMANE English customer service site lists a money transfer service between NAMANE members.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 6
primary sources listed
- Namanecardnamanecard.com · web
6 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Namanecard do?
- Namane is a customizable prepaid pay-and-transit card for travelers in South Korea, issued at kiosks and managed via a mobile app.
- Who are Namanecard's investors?
- Namanecard's investors include Kiwoom Investment.
- Where is Namanecard headquartered?
- Namanecard is headquartered in Seoul, KR.