South Korea's Yello Mobile raises $30m from SBI

The new capital will be used to support continued investments in the company's mobile media and platform businesses, along with building up Yello's pan-Asia mobile platform. SBI and Yello will also strengthen their own collaboration, with Yello leveraging SBI's global business network and resources in its Asia expansion and SBI taking advantage of Yello's market position to expand its operations in Korea.

According to a statement, SBI's investment represents a second close on the $43 million funding round, led by Formation 8, that Yello announced in December. At the time, the company claimed a valuation of $4 billion. Yello expects to reach a final close on the round in the next few months, after raising additional capital.

"We are pleased to add a strategic investor of SBI Holdings' caliber to our roster of high quality investors and simultaneously strengthen our partnership with Japan's leading online brokerage," said Yello Mobile founder and CEO Lee Sang Hyuk. "SBIH's financial support and global business network will be valuable assets to Yello Mobile as we continue to expand our geographic reach."

In addition to becoming a dominant player in the five verticals in which it operates in South Korea - e-commerce, digital entertainment, online marketing, data analytics, and online-to-offline (O2O) services - Yello has pursued an aggressive acquisition policy in Southeast Asia. The company is attempting to position itself in areas where mobile infrastructure is in its infancy, so it can take a leadership role when the expected growth materializes.

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• Topics
• North Asia
• Technology
• Consumer
• Expansion
• South Korea
• SBI Holdings
• Technology
• Consumer
• TMT
• Growth capital