South Korea’s MUSINSA raises $190m for online fashion marketplace

Global investment firm KKR and South Korean online fashion marketplace, MUSINSA have announced the signing of definitive agreements for a Series C fundraise.

The deal, which is valued at $190 million, will see funds managed by KKR leading the round, with participation from Wellington Management, one of the world’s largest independent investment management firms.

Founded in 2001 as an online sneaker community, MUSINSA has grown into a comprehensive online fashion marketplace featuring over 8,000 local and international designer brands. The platform includes an in-house brand, musinsa standard, and has evolved into an ecosystem encompassing communities, a brand incubator (MUSINSA PARTNERS), a direct-to-consumer brand operator, and a multicultural offline lounge, musinsa terrace. In 2023, MUSINSA was named among Fast Company’s “10 most innovative Asia Pacific companies of 2023” for “globalizing K-fashion.”

This Series C round is the third fundraise for the company, following its KRW 130 billion won Series B round in 2021 and KRW 100 billion won Series A round in 2019. It also marks KKR’s first technology growth investment in Korea as part of its Asia Next Generation Technology (“NGT”) strategy.

Mukul Chawla, Partner and Head of Growth Equity, Asia Pacific for KKR, commented, “We see enormous opportunity for MUSINSA to build on its leading position in a fast-growing K-fashion market that continues to shift online and expand globally on the back of K-culture’s explosive reach. We are excited to partner with the management team and look to leverage KKR’s global network, operational expertise, and deep technology experience to take MUSINSA to its next phase of growth.”

Munil Han, CEO of MUSINSA, said, “With this latest investment, MUSINSA looks to continue scaling our platform and creating new standards of success in the online and offline markets with domestic and foreign brands.”

The investment is part of KKR’s Asia NGT strategy and has been made from funds managed by KKR. Other investments from the strategy include a diverse range of companies such as Lenskart, Advanced Navigation, Privy, GrowSari, KiotViet, and NetStars.