Musinsa Co., a leading Korean fashion platform, is seeking investment of up to hundreds of billion won to expand its reach this year into overseas markets, including the U.S. and Japan.

A total of about 400 billion won ($325 million) is being sought by the fashion platform, according to investment bankers on Monday. The company, estimated to be worth about 4 trillion won, is reportedly adjusting the estimated value of the company with investors. The investment sought could in the end account for more than 10 percent of the current enterprise value.

“Musinsa is talking with multiple potential investors and details of the terms haven’t been decided,” said one industry source.

This latest move by the company is thought to be for its upcoming global expansion, and Musinsa has North America in its sights for this year. Earlier, the company established a subsidiary in Japan and launched the Musinsa Japan app in September, featuring about 300 Korean fashion goods and accessories.

Musinsa also wants to have more physical stores. The company estimates revenue from Japan operations reached about 48 billion won.

“The domestic market is seeing more competition with more players entering the market from traditional retail businesses, online marketplaces like Coupang, and fashion-oriented platforms like W Concept, all the way to fashion brands’ own online shopping malls. Expanding into global markets are inevitable for growth in revenue,” said KB Securities Co.



Musinsa has seen some of the fastest growth in transactions over the past few years. Starting at 199 billion won in 2016, its transactions increased to over 450 billion won in 2018, 900 billion won in 2019 and topped 1.2 trillion won in 2020. In 2021, the company’s transaction jumped to 2.3 trillion, a 90 percent surge. The number of the company’s online members exceeded 10 million as of end-2021.

Continued surpluses since its launch in 2012, along with its steep growth, are seen as green lights for the company in attracting investors. In 2021, the company’s consolidated sales reached 466.7 billion won, a 41 percent rise from a year earlier, and its operating profit increased 19 percent to 54.2 billion won.

In the past, Musinsa has raised a total of 330 billion won, including 200 billion won from the U.S. venture capital firm Sequoia Capital in 2019 and another 130 billion in 2021 from Sequoia Capital and IMM Investment Corp., a Korean investment firm. Musinsa’s enterprise value at the time of those investments was estimated at around 2.5 trillion won.

By Oh Dae-seok and Chang Iou-chung

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