Velymonkeys raises KRW 4B to expand its K-beauty e-commerce business in India
Reading Time: 2 minutesVelymonkeys, the operator of the Indian K-beauty e-commerce platform Maccaron, announced on July 14 that it has raised KRW 4B in SeriesA funding. The investment was led by Company K Partners and participated by Smilegate Investment.
Velymonkeys has been developing and operating a retail platform that helps Korean cosmetics enter the Indian market since 2019. In particular, through its own mall Macarons, it provides a one-stop service for the entry, distribution, and sale of Korean beauty brands in India, from marketing to sales.
Maccaron is also the only beauty e-commerce company in India that sells over 350 Korean brands. It has achieved both sales growth and customer retention through a community where users can share makeup techniques and skincare routines, and a trial program where users can be the first to try out the latest products from Korea.
The service was launched in July 2019, and the mobile commerce app was launched in January 2021. It has achieved over 400,000 accumulated subscribers and over 310,000 monthly active users. In 2022, it achieved a consolidated revenue of $4.4 million, achieving a 2.5-fold growth from 2021. As of June 2023, it has achieved a consolidated revenue of $6.1 million, maintaining a rapid growth trend.
Through this investment, Velymonkeys plans to introduce more Korean beauty brands to India and provide services that make it easier for brands to enter the market. It has conducted over 40 rounds of Indian cosmetics certification (CDSCO) and shortened the certification acquisition period from over 6 months to 1.5 months through its own system.
In 2023, it started to provide a system that makes it easier for domestic brands to secure sales channels by entering online omni channels such as Amazon India.
“The middle class income in India, which has a population of over 1.3 billion, is increasing rapidly,” said Seungwan Yoo, CEO of Velymonkeys. “We will continue to build a business model that makes it easier for Korean brands to enter the Indian market.”
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