Korea’s Memebox gets extended Series C round
South Korean beauty products e-commerce company Memebox has raised another $60 million in an extended Series C round of funding.
Led by new and existing investors including Goodwater Capital, Altos Ventures, Cowboy Ventures, Mousse Partners, Formation Group, Funders Club, Pear Ventures, Cota Capital and Janet Gurwitch, the round was an extension of the $66 million initial Series C round in August. Gurwitch, a partner at Castanea Partners and founder and former CEO of Laura Mercier, has joined the company's advisory board as part of the deal.
Founded by Dino Ha, a former employee at fashion brand Tom Ford, Memebox began as a subscription-based service in 2012. It partnered with cosmetics companies to provide makeup and skincare samples to customers in return for feedback. The following year, Memebox relocated its headquarters to San Francisco from Seoul, and became the first Korean start-up to be accepted into Y Combinator's accelerator program.
Last year in March, the start-up closed a $17.5 million Series B round from a group of Silicon Valley-based investors including Formation 8, Goodwater Capital, AME Cloud Ventures and Founders Club. The valuation was said to be $100 million.
In addition to selling third-party beauty products, Memebox develops its own brands including Bonvivant, Nooni, I'm Meme and Pony Effect. The start-up claims to have posted quarter-on-quarter sales growth of 60% since the brands launched. More than 88% of Memebox's total transactions are completed via mobile app and 94% of its customers are in Asia.
The company now has offices in San Francisco, Shanghai, Seoul, Taipei, Hong Kong and Singapore. Proceeds from the extended round will be used to improve its mobile shopping experience, develop a database of beauty ingredients and products, and build out its global operations.
"We've been focused on growing our operations in Asia - particularly in China - but with this funding we plan to streamline our global operations at our company headquarters in San Francisco," Ha said in a statement.
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