Musinsa, Korea’s leading online fashion platform, has attracted more than 200 billion won (157.8 million USD) in new investment through renowned funds and asset management companies overseas.
The recent Series C round, led by private equity fund KKR (Kolberg Kravis Roberts) and participated by asset management company Wellington Management, has bolstered the company’s corporate value to mid-3 trillion won (2.3 billion USD), soaring approximately 1 trillion won (785 million USD) higher than its previous valuation.
This latest investment marks a significant milestone for Musinsa, two years after its last funding round in March 2021, where it secured 130 billion won (102 million USD) with the participation of Sequoia Capital and IMM Investment. The company’s journey began in November 2019 when it conducted its Series A round, receiving approximately 100 billion won (78 million USD) from Sequoia Capital, thereby becoming the first ‘unicorn’ company in the vertical online fashion space.
Musinsa attributed its growth to its sustained competitiveness as a top-tier platform within Korea’s thriving online fashion market. Musinsa has continuously expanded its customer base, which has played a pivotal role in attracting investments from high-profile entities.
With this fresh influx of capital, Musinsa intends to strategically invest in broadening its influence across the entire fashion market, encompassing both online and offline realms. Han Moon-il, CEO of Musinsa, said, “Musinsa will continue to create new standards for success in the online and offline markets together with domestic and foreign fashion brands without being complacent in the service area that it is doing well in the future.”
Musinsa entered the Korean fashion industry in 2003 as an fashion e-commerce startup and opened a full-fledged online shopping mall in 2009. Musinsa’s unique policy of offering hefty shopping discounts for customers who upload product reviews with photographs attracted more consumers.
In 2021, Musinsa, opened its inaugural brick-and-mortar store in Hongdae, a vibrant hub for music and trendy culture in western Seoul. Following this move, the company took another strategic step in May 2021 by acquiring Styleshare, a domestic online fashion portal. This acquisition aimed to attract young female customers and enhance Musinsa’s global presence.
In 2022, Musinsa opened another offline store in Gangnam, a district. By combining its successful online platform with offline stores, Musinsa sought to further strengthen its position in the fashion industry and cater to a wider range of customers both domestically and internationally.
In 2022, Musinsa achieved a significant increase in revenue on a consolidated basis, reporting a total of 708.3 billion won (555 million USD), which marked a remarkable 53.6% growth compared to the previous year. However, despite the strong revenue growth, the company faced challenges with its operating profit, which experienced a drastic decline of 94.6% on-year, amounting to only 3.2 billion won (2.5 million USD).
