South Korea’s Hopae boosts EU presence with €5 million investment
Europe’s upcoming EUDI Wallet rules drive Hopae’s push to integrate more electronic identity systems.
Hopae is expanding into Europe with a €5M investment as the region prepares for mandatory EUDI Wallet adoption. The company aims to help businesses navigate multiple electronic identity systems before new requirements take effect in 2026 and 2027.
The firm plans to offer an intermediary platform that unifies eIDs and wallet-based verification. It says the model can ease compliance for regulated sectors and Very Large Online Platforms, which will need to accept EUDI Wallets under the EU rules.
Hopae has already signed a partnership with Luxembourg’s INCERT, becoming the first officially registered intermediary service. It secured OIDC certification and opened a Luxembourg office, naming Bertrand Bouteloup to lead its European expansion and trust-service ambitions.
The company says its system already integrates more than 50 eIDs and wallets, to reach 100 by mid-2026. CEO Ace Jaehoon Shim says demand for secure, wallet-based identity verification will require further investment across the continent.
Founded in 2022, Hopae previously developed the national vaccination pass in South Korea and has expanded into the United States. It is now contributing to the Korean Architecture Reference Framework while operating offices in Seoul, San Francisco, Paris, and Luxembourg.
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