Shampine said that the company works with landlords to provide premium apartments to renters with a low deposit and fixed monthly rent. Two months after announcing its seed extension round in May 2021, the startup pivoted the business. All apartments listed on its website are homes managed by Dongnae, meaning that the company no longer has an external listings platform. Dongnae now has more than 80 official local brokerage partners that the company calls Dongnae Premium Partners, according to Shampine. “Dongnae partners closely work with local brokers and other proptech platforms, as our offering is much closer to a fintech platform that helps customers access managed, premium apartments across the city with a significantly lower deposit,” Shampine said. With the Series A proceeds, the firm plans to accelerate geographic expansion across the Seoul metropolitan area, bolster its relationships with local brokerages and invest in technology and data to build out its proprietary tools for users. Former WeWork executives Matthew Shampine, who previously managed WeWork Asia, and Insong Kim founded Dongnae in 2020. Dongnae says its first mission is to tackle South Korea’s unique residential rental system, called “Jeonse.” Dongnae claims it currently manages more than 60 of the top apartment complexes in Seoul and Pankgyo, South Korea’s Silicon Valley. Korean proptech startup Dongnae gets $4.1M seed extension led by NFX