Korea audience engagement platform Bemyfriends gets $29m
Korea’s Bemyfriends, an audience engagement platform for brands and creators, has raised USD 29m in Series A funding, with the latest tranche provided by US-based VC firm Cleveland Avenue.
Founded by Don Thompson, a former president and CEO of McDonald’s Corporation, Cleveland focuses on lifestyle, consumer brands, and related technology companies. It was joined by Korea’s CJ Group, GS Corp, and Dreamus Company.
Bemyfriends describes itself as a “global fandom business” that uses a B2B platform to optimise audience engagement across the entertainment, sports, and lifestyle industries. It is headed by co-CEOs Steve Seo and Brice Lee. Seo previously led the launch of a similar platform called Weverse, while Lee has platform infrastructure experience at Dreamus and SK Telecom.
The core product, B.stage, is touted as a bespoke platform builder and all-in-one software-as-a-service product that helps brands, creators, and artists increase fan engagement. B.stage enables users to monetise their work, conduct livestreaming and e-commerce operations, and maintain full ownership of all data generated on the platform. The user base spans K-Pop artists, brands, esports teams, sports clubs, and broadcast media.
The company signed a strategic partnership with US talent agency UTA (United Talent Agency) in January and claims to be actively communicating with industry leaders globally through events such as the Sundance Film Festival in the US. Last month, it updated b.stage’s functionality with a global livestreaming feature.
The plan is to leverage Cleveland’s network and portfolio connections to expand operations globally, especially in the US. This will include an expansion of the kinds of industries being targeted with audience engagement services.
"The fandom business is gaining traction not only in entertainment, but also in a wide range of other industries like retail, gaming, and technology,” Mingu Lee, a managing partner at Cleveland, said in a statement, describing Bemyfriends as a “trend-setting” company with “extensive and comprehensive experience and knowhow.”
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