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History

Kona I has developed and commercialized the nation’s first-ever bus-subway integrated transportation card system
in 1998. Since 2005, it has developed a solution for all areas related to the usage of their internally developed
IC chip operating system(OS) and smart cards, and is currently supplying it to 90 countries worldwide under the brand
name “KONA”. Now, Kona I carries out businesses in two areas, which include IC chip-related business for supply to communications,
finance, and public sectors, and the platform business to provide solutions related to payment,
local community, blockchain, data, IoT and so on.

List of awards received

List of awards received Kona I

Won the ‘21st Software Industry Day’
Bronze Tower Order of
Industrial Service Merit
Ministry of Science and ICT
2020.12
Won the branding /
communication category at
the iF Product Design
Award in Germany
iF DESIGN AWARD
2020.02
Won the card branding category at the iF Product Design Award in Germany
iF DESIGN AWARD
(2019.02)
First-place prize (KOSDAQ category) in Transparent Accounting Award
Korean Accounting Association
(06.2016)

Korea Economic Leader Award
Joongang Daily
(10.2015)
Technology category of
“EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award”
Ernst & Young Han Young Accounting Corporation
(11.2014)
Minister’s Award at
“World Class 300 Awards”
Korea International Trade Organization
(11.2014)
“Global IT Export”
Trader Award
Korea International Trade Organization
(11.2014)

Korea Institute for Advancement of
Technology President Award for
“Pioneering of Global IT Market”
Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology
(02.2012)
Minister of Knowledge Economy Award for
“Global IT CEO”
Ministry of Knowledge Economy
(04.2011)
KOSDAQ Outstanding Entrepreneur Award for “Outstanding Model KOSDAQ Company”
Ministry of Knowledge Economy (04.2011)
Grand prize for “Entrepreneur with Outstanding Economic Performance Award”
Herald Corporation / KOSDAQ (03.2011)

Grand prize for “Outstanding Venture Company Award”
Korean Academic Association of Business Administration (06.2012)

1998

Business start

Kona I was first launched under the name of
Korea Electronic Banking Technology.
It developed and commercialized the transportation card
system for the first time in Korea.
In September 2000, it established the MYBI Card Corporation,
a digital cash consortium in the Busan region and
it is listed on KOSDAQ in October 2001.

1998.3

Founded KEBT
1998.11

Developed
the nation’s
first transportation
card system
2000.9

Founded
MYBI Card Corp.
2001.10

Listed on
the KOSDAQ

2001

2003

EMV-based Global Platform Development

In March 2004, Kona I supplied a global platform-based java card,
Kona, to Busan Bank for the first time and, in July.
And it was selected as a promising export small and medium
enterprise and acquired ISO9001:2000 quality assurance
system certification.

2002

02.
Won
‘Advanced Card
Awards 2002’
for 3 consecutive
years

10
Received the
R ‘4th Seoul
RVenture Awards
RGrand Prize’
2003

Developed
smart card
COS platform
2004

Selected as
a promising
export company
2004

Supplied
java card(Kona)
to Busan Bank

Developed and
distributed 3G/4G
USIM cards

2004

2006

Ranked No. 1 in the domestic
smart card industry

Kona I acquired the EMV certification,
the international standard for IC cards.
In 2006, Kona I ranked first with the largest market share
in the domestic smart card industry.
And it has being leading the digital authentication technology
by developing the world's first Combi USIM
and supplying the electronic ID card.

2005

Acquired the
EMV certification
2006

Became No.1
company in
domestic smart
card industry
2007

Developed and
the world’s
first Combi
USIM
2009

Supplied
Thailand electronic
ID card

2010

2012

Global market share expansion

The company was rebranded as Kona I in 2012 to reflects its transition to a global company as it entered the Thailand, China, and European markets. In 2014, Kona I awarded the 100 Million Dollar Export Tower and has being increasing worldwide market share.

2011

Awarded the
‘World Class 300
Awards’
2012

Changed the
name of company
to Kona I
2013

Selected as a
global company
candidate by
the Ministry of
Trade, Industry
and Energy
2014

Awarded the
‘100 Million Dollar
Export Tower’

2014

2017

Launched the KONA card

Kona I registered as the electronic finance business in 2015 And evolved into a global IT company by launching the KONA card in 2017, the nation's first open rechargeable mobile/IC card platform.

2015

09
Registered as an
e-finance business

10
Awarded the
‘Korea Economic
Leader Award’
2016.06

Won the
First-place prize
in ‘Transparent Accounting
Award’
2017

Launched the
content sharing
platform ‘Veaver’
2017

Launched the
‘KONA card’ platform

2017

2020

Evolved into a comprehensive
platform company

In 2018, Kona I launched the Korea's first
IC card-type local currency platform in Seo-gu, Incheon
and now it is operating the local currency platform of
56 local governments.
Based on the Kona I platform which provides
excellent scalability and user convenience,
we are leaping into a comprehensive platform company.

2018

Selected as an
agency for
operating the
local currency
of Incheon,
Gyeonggi-do
2019

Selected as an
agency for
operating the local
currency of
Gyeonggi-do
2019

Selected as a
financial regulation
sandbox service
2020

Transaction
amount of
local currency
platform is
close to 8 trillion

12.
Won the
‘21st Software
Industry Day’
Bronze Tower Order
of Industrial
Service Merit