MUSINSA Raises $190 Million in Series C Funding to Fuel Global Expansion
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South Korean online fashion platform MUSINSA has received US$190 million in Series C funding led by global investment firm KKR, with participation from Wellington Management, one of the world’s largest independent investment management firms. The investment will be used to help MUSINSA scale its platform and expand its global footprint.
Founded in 2001 as an online sneaker community, MUSINSA is today an online fashion marketplace in South Korea that features more than 8,000 local and foreign designer brands and an in-house brand (musinsa standard), anchoring the creator economy for fashion in South Korea.
Over the years, MUSINSA has expanded to include a comprehensive ecosystem including communities, a brand incubator (MUSINSA PARTNERS), a direct-to-consumer brand operator, and an offline multicultural lounge (musinsa terrace) that allows for offline interactions with its customers and provides online-based fashion brands with a physical space for pop-up stores.
In 2023, Fast Company named MUSINSA as among the “10 most innovative Asia Pacific companies of 2023” for “globalizing K-fashion.”
This transaction marks KKR’s first technology growth investment in Korea as part of its Asia Next Generation Technology (“NGT”) strategy, which seeks to support the growth of innovative, disruptive companies in Asia Pacific across key themes, including software, consumer technology and FinTech.
Mukul Chawla, Partner and Head of Growth Equity, Asia Pacific for KKR, said, “MUSINSA has developed itself as a top consumer Internet platform in Korea and a differentiated marketplace by its ability to scale rising brands, enable the creator economy for fashion, engage and provide a high-quality e-commerce experience for customers. We see enormous opportunity for MUSINSA to build on its leading position in a fast-growing K-fashion market that continues to shift online and expand globally on the back of K-culture’s explosive reach. We are excited to partner with the management team and look to leverage KKR’s global network, operational expertise, and deep technology experience to take MUSINSA to its next phase of growth.”
Munil Han, CEO of MUSINSA, said, “We are delighted to welcome global investors of KKR and Wellington’s caliber, which we see as a recognition of the quality of MUSINSA’s platform, and the potential of the Korean online fashion market. With this latest investment, MUSINSA looks to continue scaling our platform and creating new standards of success in the online and offline markets with domestic and foreign brands.”
This Series C is the Company’s third fundraise and follows its successful KRW 130 billion won Series B round in 2021 and KRW 100 billion won Series A round in 2019.
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