Wholesum injects fresh capital for micro-retail brand acquisition in South Korea

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 18 -- Wholesum Co Ltd is the first Korea-based e-commerce brand accelerator to discover, acquire, and scale promising online-native brands.

Over US$10 billion has been raised globally since 2018 by over 60 start-ups who focus on aggregating Amazon FBA brands.

Unlike global players, Wholesum’s differentiated strategy focuses on brands that thrive on Korean e-commerce marketplaces, led by Naver Smartstore and Coupang, which boast the third largest annual GMV in the world, estimated at US$180 billion this year, and collectively host over 470,000 independent micro-brands. (US$1 = RM4.175)

Co-Founders Kyungbeom Ham, e-commerce, product, and supply-chain expert, and AJ Vincent, a global private equity and operations executive, founded Wholesum to address problems faced by a growing number of entrepreneurs who have achieved US$1 million in annual e-commerce sales.

“Wholesum prepares to speak with or meet dozens of entrepreneurs every week by researching their product, analysing their competition, and understanding their journey,” said Vincent in a statement.

With SEMAS reporting that 70 per cent of businesses close down in Korea due to a number of challenges related to financing and scalability, Vincent added: “Our value proposition is to offer a ‘sale vs scale’ alternative solution to support promising brands where short-term capital, marketing knowledge, and tech constraints may have limited the brand’s long-term potential under the original entrepreneur.”

With Seed Round capital led by Nordstar (UK), Korean VCs Bass Investment and The Ventures, and strategic Angel investors in August, Wholesum acquired two brands in the Health & Living category and plans to deploy over US$23 million of equity and new venture financing to execute on a deep pipeline.

“Korea’s clustered geography means Wholesum can meet any entrepreneur face-to-face, pull historical financial data, or conduct in-person diligence of manufacturing, fulfillment, and delivery facilities within three hours of first contact,” noted Ham.

-- BERNAMA