The round was led by new global investor Formation Group with partcipation from previous investors Goodwater Capital and Pejman Mar Ventures.
The company, which has raised nearly $100m in total, will use the funds to continue its expansion into new markets, accelerate innovative product development, and link its digital platform to additional offline retail experiences.
Led by Hinges Dino Ha, co-founder and CEO, Memebox started by introducing Korean beauty products to new demographics through an online platform, which now sells over 170,000 of Korea’s products to women primarily in the U.S. and across Asia. It now sells to more Spanish-speaking customers than Chinese, Korean, and Japanese combined, with emerging U.S. markets in New York, Houston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Antonio.
The Y Combinator graduate company has used technology to promote the products it sells and to predict, create, and market its own branded products. The platform analyzes millions of data points to identify emerging beauty trends and the need for new products 12-18 months before consumer demand becomes apparent. It then takes these data insights and product concepts to beauty manufacturers, with whom Memebox has secured strategic partnerships. The result is the launch of a new, high quality product line under a Memebox brand within a few months, as typical product development cycle takes an average of 18-24 months.
The company, which recently introduced its first shop in Korea, has offices in San Francisco, Shanghai, Seoul, Taipei, Hong Kong and Singapore.
FinSMEs
10/08/2016