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Amid economic downturns, sluggish consumer sentiment, and rising new car prices each year, consumers are delaying new vehicle purchases, leading to an increase in older cars. According to the Korea Automobile & Mobility Industry Association (KAMA), as of March 2026, vehicles aged 10 years or older accounted for 38.4% of the domestic market, meaning four out of every 10 vehicles are aging. This is the highest level since 2001.
As more drivers keep their cars longer, demand for regular inspections and maintenance has grown, yet it is not easy to find time in a busy daily routine to visit a repair shop directly. A startup has addressed this issue through on-site car washing and AI (artificial intelligence). The company is Sejin Sa, which operates the vehicle management app "People Serious About Car Washing."
According to venture capital (VC) and startup industry sources on the 17th, Sejin Sa recently secured a bridge investment from Seoul National University Technology Holdings (hereinafter SNU Tech Holdings) and was ultimately selected for the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' Private Investment in Public Interest (TIPS) program. Through this TIPS selection, Sejin Sa will receive 800 million won in research and development (R&D) funding over the next two years.
Sejin Sa is a startup founded in June 2023 by Yoon Yong-bin (CEO), who previously worked at global strategy consulting firm Arthur D. Little (ADL). After officially launching its on-site car washing app in August of the same year, Sejin Sa secured 1.5 billion won in seed investment from Hashed Ventures in December, gaining recognition for its potential. Within one year of launch, the company surpassed 10,000 cumulative car washes, demonstrating rapid growth.
Cha In-hwan, Seoul National University Gi Sul-ji-ju (CEO), who executed this investment and directly led the TIPS recommendation, cited "AX execution capability based on on-site domain knowledge" and "the startup team's quick response ability" as Sejin Sa's core competitive strengths.
Cha (CEO) stated, "The current hot topic in the venture ecosystem is not the large AI models themselves, but rather AX that systematically processes unique domain knowledge within traditional industries to penetrate them." He added, "Sejin Sa is accumulating practical data on vehicle operation and wear conditions—data that even major repair chains have failed to secure—through car washing, which serves as the most frequent offline touchpoint with customers," explaining the investment rationale.
Regarding the founding team, Cha (CEO) noted, "When evaluating early-stage startups, I prioritize agile execution capability that allows for flexible and rapid adaptation to market changes." He assessed, "Sejin Sa started with on-site car washing and quickly pivoted its business to parking-lot-based on-site maintenance, proving its own solutions and growth drivers."
Supporting Sejin Sa's rapid growth is a gig worker (ultra-short-term laborer) operating system that requires no offline bases. The company built a logistics network that delivers chemicals and consumables to crew members' homes via courier and has the headquarters uniformly collect and launder used towels, thereby eliminating fixed cost burdens. By lowering entry barriers through a rinse-less process that uses no water and the industry's first per-case platform insurance, the crew supply chain expanded rapidly. The number of crew members, which was 384 in January 2025, increased 12-fold to 4,744 within 20 months, and cumulative car washes surpassed 60,000.
Another key factor that attracted attention from Seoul National University Technology Holdings is the scalability of "vehicle data" acquired through car washing. Sejin Sa uses AI to analyze photos taken by crew members during the washing process to diagnose paint scratches and tire wear, then sends a mobile report to the vehicle owner. Going beyond simple diagnosis, the company automatically matches engine oil specifications with 95.4% accuracy, linking app payments and on-site replacement in a one-stop manner. There is already a leading model in the U.S. market that has grown into a unicorn by accumulating vehicle usage data based on visit services and expanding into real-time maintenance.
Sejin Sa is internalizing its maintenance supply chain by deploying its own maintenance vehicles and special-purpose trucks, focusing on oil, filter, battery, and tire items that can be serviced on-site without requiring registration as a repair business.
Cha (CEO) explained, "Sejin Sa is proving a structure that increases the payment amount per customer while solidifying profitability by connecting car washing to visit maintenance." He added, "We highly value the trend where loyal customers satisfied with the car wash naturally trust the company with maintenance as well." He emphasized, "On-site data, such as how much tire wear prompts specific owners to replace them, will become a core asset that is difficult for completed vehicle manufacturers or large corporate platforms to obtain in the future."
Regarding the possibility of major platform entry, Cha (CEO) stated, "If Sejin Sa enters the Series A track and proves its growth, large corporations seeking business expansion, mid-sized companies, or existing mobility unicorns may make cooperation or acquisition proposals." He added, "The role of an early-stage startup is to elevate market and data infrastructure to a level that the existing ecosystem can absorb or follow, and Sejin Sa is a team capable of fulfilling that role."
Sejin Sa plans to invest this investment and TIPS R&D funds in advancing its AI vehicle condition identification model and hiring engineers. The company aims to begin preliminary sales from the fourth quarter of this year and expand into business-to-business (B2B) transactions, such as apartment complex group purchases, rental cars, car sharing, and corporate vehicles, by the first quarter of 2027, with the goal of filling off-peak weekday daytime capacity.
Yoon Yong-bin, CEO of Sejin Sa, said, "Car washing is the vehicle management service that owners use most frequently." He added, "We will create a service that proactively informs owners about the maintenance their cars need using data accumulated from each car wash."
[MoneyToday Startup Media Platform Unicorn Factory]
in FUTURE
