South Korean luxury e-commerce platform MustIT has received KRW 15bn ($13m) in a funding round led by IMM Investment, SoftBank Ventures Asia, K2 Investment Partners, and Medici Partners, according to a company statement.
The cash injection takes the firm’s valuation to KRW 100bn ($83m), marking its first external investment.
Founded in 2011, MustIT specializes in luxury goods and has grown at an average annual rate of 80% over the past nine years.
Its transaction volume is 115 times larger than in its first year of operation, with KRW 150bn ($130m) recorded in 2019 and KRW 260bn ($220m) projected for 2020.
The company said the funding would allow MustIT to maintain its leadership position in the luxury e-commerce market.
The firm aims to use the investment to improve its product search and filtering feature and offer more personalized recommendations to customers based on their purchase history.
IMM Investment led the funding round and said MustIT stood out as a market leader for shifting the offline purchase experience to an online channel and building customer trust.
South Korea’s luxury market was valued at $12.7bn by market research firm Euromonitor International in 2019, with purchases of luxury goods among the country’s millennials increasing sevenfold between 2017 and 2019.
The COVID-19 pandemic has not impacted the luxury goods market, with various sources reporting increased sales compared to last year’s period, offering the potential for further growth for e-commerce platforms such as MustIT.
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