Nanum Vitamin

Nanum Vitamin operates as a social venture, addressing food insecurity for children in South Korea through its technology-driven platform, 'Nabiyam.' The company was founded in April 2023 by Hayeon Kim, who drew inspiration from her extensive volunteer work. While studying Business Administration and Information & Culture at Seoul National University, Kim identified a critical gap: despite existing infrastructure for meal support, children at risk of skipping meals faced significant hurdles in accessing it, often due to social stigma and logistical inefficiencies. This firsthand observation prompted her to establish Nanum Vitamin to create a more dignified and user-friendly system.

The core of the business is the 'Nabiyam' mobile application, an O2O (Online-to-Offline) platform that connects children in need with local restaurants and food providers. The service digitizes the entire meal support process, allowing users to register their government-issued meal cards online for discreet, non-face-to-face verification. This enables them to browse participating local stores and use mobile meal vouchers, thereby choosing their own meals without the discomfort of using a physical card. Nanum Vitamin's business model is multifaceted, generating revenue by charging a commission to partner stores that benefit from increased customer traffic. The company also establishes B2B partnerships with corporations and public institutions like SK, Woowa Brothers, and the Korea Health Promotion Foundation, offering ESG-focused social contribution services. For these partners, Nanum Vitamin provides data-driven reports on the impact of their contributions, ensuring transparency.

The company's platform is engineered to solve the 'decoupling' problem in welfare services, where the availability of resources doesn't translate into effective delivery. By leveraging an AI-based data system, Nanum Vitamin ensures that donations are tracked and their usage visualized, providing clear reports for corporate ESG initiatives. Since its inception, the company has facilitated over 50,000 meals for 21,000 children through a network of 24,000 partner stores. Its rapid growth is underscored by several successful funding rounds, including a seed investment from Seoul National University's technology holding company and Impact Square, followed by a pre-A funding round led by Gaia Venture Partners. Founder Hayeon Kim has received numerous accolades, including being named in Forbes' '30 Under 30 Asia' list for Social Impact, highlighting the company's significant strides in merging technology with social welfare.

Keywords: Nanum Vitamin, Nabiyam, Hayeon Kim, food security, social venture, child welfare, meal support platform, O2O service, ESG reporting, corporate social responsibility, food-tech, donation platform, mobile meal vouchers, impact investing, social impact, digital welfare, Seoul National University, community support, food insecurity solution, restaurant partnership, data-driven donation, transparent giving