STYLEmate Attracts Seed Investment from Altos Ventures for Growth in Fashion Influencer Marketing
The South Korean fashion marketing platform, STYLEmate, has secured seed funding from Altos Ventures. This round of investment, totaling approximately 1 billion KRW, was exclusively led by Altos Ventures.
STYLEmate, initially a business unit under Mediance, launched its app service in March 2022 and has seen rapid growth, eventually spinning off into an independent entity in October of the same year. The company’s founder and CEO, Han Sang-hee, joined Mediance after gaining diverse experiences at Samsung Electronics Media Solution Center, Unity’s Global BD Team, and the strategic business division of Seoul Store. Utilizing his expertise in platform-based strategic partnerships, acquired over 20 years in large corporations, foreign firms, and startups, Han is spearheading STYLEmate’s expansion in the fashion influencer industry.
STYLEmate specializes in identifying fashion-focused influencers and facilitating their partnerships with brands. This service allows influencers to directly apply and choose products from popular brands, thereby streamlining collaborations. The company also enhances the marketing efficiency of fashion brands through fashion data analytics, aiding in predicting trends and product interest.
The South Korean fashion market, which includes fashion manufacturing and specialized distribution, has grown to an estimated 47 trillion KRW, with 270 companies and over 7,000 online brands. In this industry, marketing is a critical aspect, often accounting for 5-10% of total sales. The rise of Instagram has led to an increased emphasis on trend discovery and product purchasing, especially among younger consumers. Consequently, many brands are actively utilizing influencers, though they still face challenges in optimizing their marketing strategies. This is largely due to the time-intensive process of identifying suitable influencers and creating content.
STYLEmate has made significant strides in this domain. Within just over a year of launching its service, the company has rapidly expanded by connecting approximately 100 brands with more than 3,000 influencers. STYLEmate is poised to further aid brands in effective viral marketing through its development of data-driven content and its application in performance marketing and recommendation algorithms.
Haemin Jung from Altos Ventures remarked on the investment decision, stating, “We were impressed by STYLEmate’s foundational work in facilitating effective collaborations between fashion brands and influencers in the rapidly globalizing Korean fashion market.”
STYLEmate’s CEO Han Sang-hee commented on the investment, “This funding is a testament to STYLEmate’s vision and its potential for growth in the market. We are now poised to focus on technological development and market expansion in the fashion marketing platform sector.”
