[StartupRecipe] Brand aggregator startups are rising in Korea

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#Weekly Funding Overview

[April. 11 ~ April. 15]

The total funds raised by Korean startups of this week is KRW 217.5 billion.

Company	Industry	Amount	Round	Investors
Wired Company	Ecommerce	6.2 billion	Series A	Hana Financial Investment
theconst	Haircare	700 million	Seed	Spring Camp
Jejememe	Kids platform	-	GRANT	TIPS
Orwell Health	Healthcare	-	GRANT	TIPS
H2K		1 billion	Pre-Series A	UTC Investment, Kakao, SKT
Public Kitchen	K-Food	-	Series A	MYSC
Imgneers	Metaverse	-	Pre-Series A	New Paradigm Investment, Nextdream Angel Club
Pikurate	Knowledge Curation	500 million		Smartstudy Ventures
Dwelling	Smart shelter	16.5 billion		NH Investment & Securities, DB Investment Fund
Awake Corporation	Creator tech	1.1 billion	Seed	Seoul Techno Holdings, Tips, Angles
Vendit	B2B Hotel solution	4 billion	Pre-Series A	Hana Ventures, Cona Investment, UTC Investment, Schumidt
Picxel play	NFT Game	800 million	Seed	thehyper
Testbank	Digital book	-	GRANT	TIPS
Apartmentary	Interior	10 billion		Shinhan Capital
WAD	Restaurant reservation	30 billion	Series C	Altos Ventures, CompanyKpartners, Daol Investment, Korea Investment Partners, Orion Capital Management
Baree Coporation	Mobility	-	GRANT	TIPS
Cufit	Fitness	-	M&A	Yanadoo
VillageBaby	Kids platform	-	GRANT	TIPS
synergywith	Ecommerce	1.5 billion		KIBO, KOSMES, Woori Bank
GGQ Company	Game	11 billion		Daol Investment, T Investment, IBK, Shinhan Investment
KTOW4U	Fandom platform	50 billion		LB Investment, KB Securities, SJ Investment
Lagood Company	web3	1.5 billion	Seed	KB Investment, Crit Ventures, Spring Camp, Content Technologies
Fassto	Logistics	80 billion	Series C	VIG Partners, Hana Ventures, SKD&D, Korea Development Bank, Shinhan Venture Investment
NOTA	AI	-		Kakao Investment
Eargada	Audio Content	-	Seed	Sparklab
rye&catchers	AI	-		Kyobo securities
GG56KOREA	Metadata	2.4 billion		YBM
Food Assemble	Mealkit	6.5 billion		Lotte Food
Festa	Event Solution	-	M&A	Danggeun Market
Levoist	Kpop	-		Beeland Enterprise
Nanu	Pulpmold	-	Seed	CNTTech

Major Funding

• FASSTO, an AI-based logistics platform, has raised KRW 80 billion in Series C investment. It has a self-built AI, a fulfillment system based on big data, and a logistics center control system. After opening the 43,000㎡ Yongin 1 Center in the second half of last year, sales more than doubled compared to the first half. The Yongin 2 Center will open in May of this year. 
• K-pop commerce K-town4U has received an investment of KRW 50 billion. It is a global fandom business company that connects 5,200 K-pop fan clubs around the world with shopping malls. It has 4.2 million members and a community that can reach out to 200 million fan club members. The company is improving other product lines, such as K-drama merchandise.
• AI-based game coaching platform GGQ Company has secured KRW 11 billion in funds. It operates the GGQ service that provides personalized learning content to gamers from data collection, user analysis, feedback, lecture production, and customized training.

#Trend Analysis

Brand aggregator startups are rising in Korea

The brand aggregator sector, which is gaining popularity globally, also catches investors’ interest in Korea. New investment has been made in related companies every month this year. It is highly regarded for its growth potential, having secured large-scale funds from the seed stage and attracted investments from global investors.

A brand aggregator is a business that acquires small businesses that sell products on e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and Shopify, and maximizes brand profits by providing strategic support tailored to the brand and platform. This model began to gain huge popularity around the world with the successful growth of Thrasio. Founded in 2018, Thrasio has since acquired more than 100 Amazon sellers. It reached unicorn status and became a leader in this field in just two years.

In Korea, brand aggregator startups have started to appear since last year. Four companies have announced new funding this year alone, and related startups have raised more than KRW 200 billion. It is notable that all of them are newly established, less than two years old. 

Because brand aggregators grow through acquisitions, they must have relevant knowledge as an essential competency as well as an understanding of e-commerce. For this reason, those with expertise in e-commerce and finance are jumping into the market.

NextChapter was the first company to announce its funding in Korea. Founded by a CEO from the ad-tech company Buzzvil, it has received investments from global venture capitals in the seed funding round. Boosters is a company established by experts in D2C sales. It supports brand growth through PB product planning and promotions using social media influencers. New Vessel was founded by an M&A expert and an e-commerce expert from Rakuten and Coupang. It plans to build local networks worldwide while cooperating with Naver by receiving investment from Naver D2SF.

KlickBrands has raised the most funds, whose founders are former entrepreneurs and experts in finance. It has attracted strategic investment from UNA Brands, the largest aggregator in the Asia-Pacific region. The company plans to acquire excellent domestic brands with high potential for global expansion. Wholesum also secured a large amount of global funding in April. Currently owning five brands, it aims to acquire 15 to 20 additional brands.

Some startups are expanding into the brand aggregator business while not bringing it to the forefront. Most of them offer e-commerce solutions, and they plan to support the growth of e-commerce brands based on their existing capabilities. Storelink, a big data marketing solution, has recently raised KRW 9 billion and announced its plan to expand its service into a brand aggregator. E-commerce analysis company MoonRiver is also planning to launch a brand aggregator business. Blank, the company most known for its ‘drug pillow,’ is attempting to transform its business model into a brand aggregator.

More aggregators are expected to compete in the market as e-commerce has grown rapidly due to COVID-19. Many aggregators worldwide are rapidly reaching unicorn status following the Thrasio model. Investors’ interest in brand aggregators will increase accordingly.

Company	Period	Amount	Round
NextChapter	2021.07	Non-disclosure	Seed
Boosters	2022.01	KRW 12 billion	Series A
New Vessel	2022.02	Non-disclosure	Seed
KlickBrands	2022.03	KRW 120 billion	Non-disclosure
Wholesum Brands	2022.04	USD 50 million	Series A