MUSINSA, an online fashion platform in South Korea, has raised $190 million in Series C fundraise led by KKR, a global investment firm.

MUSINSA said in a statement on Tuesday the round also saw participation from Wellington Management, one of the world’s largest independent investment management firms.

This Series C is the company’s third fundraise and follows its successful KRW 130 billion won ($101.16 million) Series B round in 2021 and KRW 100 billion won ($77.81 million) Series A round in 2019.

According to the statement, this transaction marks KKR’s first technology growth investment in South Korea as part of its Asia Next Generation Technology (NGT) strategy, which seeks to support the growth of innovative, disruptive companies in Asia Pacific across key themes, including software, consumer technology and FinTech.

“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,” said Munil Han, Chief Executive Officer of MUSINSA.

He also said the firm sees the investment as a recognition of the quality of MUSINSA’s platform, and the potential of the Korean online fashion market.

Founded in 2001 as an online sneaker community, MUSINSA is an online fashion marketplace in South Korea that features more than 8,000 local and foreign designer brands and an in-house brand (musinsa standard), anchoring the creator economy for fashion in the country.

Over the years, MUSINSA has expanded to include a comprehensive ecosystem including communities, a brand incubator (MUSINSA PARTNERS), a direct-to-consumer brand operator, and an offline multicultural lounge (musinsa terrace) that allows for offline interactions with its customers and provides online-based fashion brands with a physical space for pop-up stores.

The firm has a diverse business portfolio, including its core service Musinsa Store, online lifestyle select shop 29CM, online re-sell platform soldout, and in-house fashion brand musinsa standard.

The firm is also operating a ‘global store’ that is available in 13 overseas countries, including Asia, America, and Oceania, to help small and medium-sized Korean brands advance overseas and to provide a point of contact for meeting global customers who are interested in South Korean fashion.

The company has more than 13 million members and recorded annual gross merchandise value (GMV) of more than KRW 3 trillion won ($2.35 billion) as of 2022.

“MUSINSA has developed itself as a top consumer Internet platform in South Korea and a differentiated marketplace by its ability to scale rising brands, enable the creator economy for fashion, engage and provide a high-quality e-commerce experience for customers,” said Mukul Chawla, Partner and Head of Growth Equity, Asia Pacific for KKR.

He also said the firm sees 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 look to leverage KKR’s global network, operational expertise, and deep technology experience to take MUSINSA to its next phase of growth,” he added.

KKR makes its investment as part of its Asia NGT strategy and from funds managed by KKR.

Other investments from the strategy include Lenskart, an omni-channel eyewear retailer in India; Advanced Navigation, a developer of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered robotics and navigation technology in Australia; Privy, a digital identity provider in Indonesia; GrowSari, a business-to-business e-commerce platform serving small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Philippines; KiotViet, a software platform for SMEs in Vietnam; and NetStars, the operator of Japan’s largest QR code payment gateway.

KKR offers alternative asset management as well as capital markets and insurance solutions.

It sponsors investment funds that invest in private equity, credit and real assets and has strategic partners that manage hedge funds.

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