12.15.16
Memebox has announced it has raised $60M in a Series C extension financing round. This announcement caps off a record year of growth for the company, which recently welcomed Laura Mercier founder and former CEO Janet Gurwitch to its Advisory Board
The round was led by new and existing investors including Goodwater Capital, Altos Ventures, Cowboy Ventures, Mousse Partners, Formation Group, Funders Club, Pear Ventures, Cota Capital and Janet Gurwitch. It is an extension of the $66M the company raised in its initial Series C. The round brings the company to $160M raised since it was founded in 2012.
Photo above: Customers browse at Memebox's San Francisco holiday pop-up shop.
Looking Ahead Toward Growth
The additional investment will allow Memebox to continue to invest in streamlining its mobile shopping experience, develop a database of beauty ingredients and products, and build out its global operations for efficiency as the company grows its global footprint.
"Memebox has been focused on bringing innovative, high quality and approachable beauty to consumers worldwide," said CEO Hyungseok Dino Ha. "We are a global company with offices in six different countries with 14 different nationalities. We've been focused on growing our operations in Asia - particularly in China - but with this funding we plan to streamline our global operations at our company headquarters in San Francisco."
Eric J. Kim, Managing Partner at Goodwater Capital and Memebox board member adds, "What Memebox is doing with mobile and video is unprecedented in the beauty landscape. Memebox has the heart of a high-end brand, the brain of a deep data company, and the muscle memory of a social network. At its core, Memebox is dedicated to delighting this generation of customers who care deeply about beauty and skincare. We are proud to be part of bringing this traditional industry into the 21st century."
More About Memebox
Membox was founded in 2012 by CEO Hyungseok Dino Ha. Evolving from the company's initial subscription box model, Memebox began retailing beauty products before quickly moving into developing its own in-house brands.
Leveraging the data collected from customers, the company built its own research and development labs outside of Seoul, South Korea to test and develop the company's four in-house brands - Bonvivant, Nooni, I'M Meme and Pony Effect. Since the brands launched, they have been growing 60% quarter-over-quarter.
"By combining what we've learned from our customer data with the technology available to us in our labs, we're able to create high quality, effective and affordable products that our customers are looking for," said Ha. "Our investment in our own facilities, combined with our startup ethos, has allowed us to quickly evolve to meet market demand for innovative and effective beauty worldwide."
A Content-Driven Mobile Shopping Experience
Memebox invested early in its content-driven mobile shopping experience. has also paid off for the company. The mobile app is highly-trafficked, representing over 88 percent of its global online transactions, with over 94 percent of customers in Asia shop through the app.
"From the beginning, mobile has been a cornerstone of our online-to-offline omni-channel strategy," added Ha. "Our young customer base gravitates to content-driven brand experiences over basic e-commerce platforms translated to mobile. We plan to bring the same mobile content strategies that have been so successful in Asia to audiences in the US."
The round was led by new and existing investors including Goodwater Capital, Altos Ventures, Cowboy Ventures, Mousse Partners, Formation Group, Funders Club, Pear Ventures, Cota Capital and Janet Gurwitch. It is an extension of the $66M the company raised in its initial Series C. The round brings the company to $160M raised since it was founded in 2012.
Photo above: Customers browse at Memebox's San Francisco holiday pop-up shop.
Looking Ahead Toward Growth
The additional investment will allow Memebox to continue to invest in streamlining its mobile shopping experience, develop a database of beauty ingredients and products, and build out its global operations for efficiency as the company grows its global footprint.
"Memebox has been focused on bringing innovative, high quality and approachable beauty to consumers worldwide," said CEO Hyungseok Dino Ha. "We are a global company with offices in six different countries with 14 different nationalities. We've been focused on growing our operations in Asia - particularly in China - but with this funding we plan to streamline our global operations at our company headquarters in San Francisco."
Eric J. Kim, Managing Partner at Goodwater Capital and Memebox board member adds, "What Memebox is doing with mobile and video is unprecedented in the beauty landscape. Memebox has the heart of a high-end brand, the brain of a deep data company, and the muscle memory of a social network. At its core, Memebox is dedicated to delighting this generation of customers who care deeply about beauty and skincare. We are proud to be part of bringing this traditional industry into the 21st century."
More About Memebox
Membox was founded in 2012 by CEO Hyungseok Dino Ha. Evolving from the company's initial subscription box model, Memebox began retailing beauty products before quickly moving into developing its own in-house brands.
Leveraging the data collected from customers, the company built its own research and development labs outside of Seoul, South Korea to test and develop the company's four in-house brands - Bonvivant, Nooni, I'M Meme and Pony Effect. Since the brands launched, they have been growing 60% quarter-over-quarter.
"By combining what we've learned from our customer data with the technology available to us in our labs, we're able to create high quality, effective and affordable products that our customers are looking for," said Ha. "Our investment in our own facilities, combined with our startup ethos, has allowed us to quickly evolve to meet market demand for innovative and effective beauty worldwide."
A Content-Driven Mobile Shopping Experience
Memebox invested early in its content-driven mobile shopping experience. has also paid off for the company. The mobile app is highly-trafficked, representing over 88 percent of its global online transactions, with over 94 percent of customers in Asia shop through the app.
"From the beginning, mobile has been a cornerstone of our online-to-offline omni-channel strategy," added Ha. "Our young customer base gravitates to content-driven brand experiences over basic e-commerce platforms translated to mobile. We plan to bring the same mobile content strategies that have been so successful in Asia to audiences in the US."
