South Korea has become a driving force in the global beauty ecosystem, and ground zero for product, packaging, and business innovation. Korean beauty exports were at $60 million in 2012, growing to over $6 billion in 2019.

Importers in the US like Peach & Lily and Soko Glam were integral in introducing K-Beauty brands to US consumers. Early K-Beauty brands leveraged a fast beauty model, cute packaging, and shocking ingredients. A new crop of start-ups is focused on building brands with longevity on a foundation of Korean innovation with an eye to the global market.

The rankings were compiled by the start-up tech media platform Seoulz and are based on 4 factors: funding, market opportunity, the innovation of service or product, and growth potential/scalability.

1. MBX (Memebox): Launched in 2012 by CEO Dino Ha as a subscription box service for Korean beauty products, the business expanded to the United States as one of the first outlets to offer K-beauty. With a laser focus on community building, the business transitioned from a subscription-based service to an e-commerce business and then transforming into a mobile e-commerce platform that sells around 170,000 cosmetics and beauty products.

• 50% of their revenue comes from outside of Korea.
• Rebranded as MBX, the business has partnered with Sephora and Johnson & Johnson.
• Known for their short development cycle due to their massive database on skin types, trends, and preferences from their 5 million monthly active users.
• Some of their in-house product lines include Kaja, Nooni, Pony Effect, I’M MEME, I Dew Care, and Shine Easy Glam.
• Alumni of Y-Combinator, the business raised nearly $200 million in funding with Johnson & Johnson leading the $35 million Series D funding round in January 2019.

2. MediHeal: The company categorizes itself as a “beauty science” company offering beauty solutions that are scientific in approach. Over the past 10 years the business has grown from a novel concept to an established global beauty brand with the sole mission to create an affordable one-sheet solution to your specific and changing daily skincare needs.

• The number-one sheet mask brand according to Kantar, with five sheet masks sold every second.
• They have sold over 1.7 billion sheet masks since late 2017.
• The start-up has become a household because of its partnership with global K-pop group BTS that started in 2017.
• Before they landed BTS, they had Korean movie star Hyun Bin as their spokesperson.
• Mediheal has taken off in America and it is now being sold on Amazon, Soko Glam, and Walgreens.
• The brand is owned by L&P Cosmetics, a cosmeceutical manufacturer founded in 1969.

3. B2LiNK: was founded in 2016 by three young entrepreneurs: CEO Sohyung Lee, who worked at the world’s top consulting firm McKinsey & Company, CBDO Hyunseok Park, the first person to introduce fashion tattoos to Korea, and CVO Jaeho Lee, the co-founder of Memebox. The real-time data platform and IT-based services help brands with distribution and marketing strategies for the global market.

• They have been able to raise over $24 million to date from investors including DSC Investment, DT Capital (China), KTB Network, Industrial bank of Korea.
• In 2018 the business received $15 million international and Korean investors that include Kolmar Korea, POSCO Capital, and Angle Ventures.
• B2LiNK now operates branches in the United States, China, Japan, and Vietnam.

4. Glow Recipe: Founded by Sarah Lee and Christine Chang, Glow Recipe, the K-beauty-inspired brand, launched in 2017 and reportedly did $30 million in retail sales in the first year. The founders shuttered their multi-brand business to focus on their skincare brand, which they hope will hit $100 million in sales by 2022.

5. TOUN28: A Korean beauty and tech start-up founded in 2017 by Jung Maria, who previously worked at cosmetics material research institute Bio Spectrum, and Park Jun-su, who had worked in LG Electronics’ data division. The brand collects detailed information about customers’ facial conditions as well as climate and environmental information in order to customize organic products based on this data and sends them out on the 28th of every month for 50,000 won ($42.50) per month. For those that do not wish to give up their personal data, TOUN28 offers ready-made organic cosmetics lines.

• The business received over $4 million in funding from Korean beauty company Amorepacfic.
• Their focus for 2020 will be to enter the European market.
• They have already supplied their non-customized products to France.

6. lululab: Founder and CEO Yongjoon Choe majored in Bio-Engineering at Cornell University in the US before entering Samsung Electronics that, at the time, had declared a shift in business from smartphones towards health care. lululab is a leading beauty start-up in AI-driven skin analysis and cosmetics product-matching technology. They handle much of their business in-house, from the devices for skin data collection and algorithms for analysis to cosmetics data collection and product-matching algorithms.

• A spinoff company of C-Lab, Samsung Electronics’ in-house venture program, and a member company of the Born2Global Centre.  
• They also participated in the LVMH start-up support program Luxury Lab.
• Lumini Home won the 2019 CES Innovation Awards in the Health and Wellness category.

7. Lycl Inc (UNPA): Lycl is a Korean skincare and tech start-up established in 2013. The company combines three different business models: unpa.me, a review and content platform for K-Beauty products, palett.me, an influencer network platform, and unpa.Cosmetics, the start-up’s own skincare brand. Lycl already has a strong footprint in South Korea with the majority of product sales generated through a direct-to-consumer business model via the brand’s own website.

• They have attracted over 2 million Android and iOS downloads and have more than 1.5 million daily pageviews from their mobile apps and their website.
• Their products are sold in cosmetics retail stores like Olive Young and Aritaum across Korea.
• Google Play named them one of the top 30 best Apps in the Beauty Category sector.
• In December of 2019 Beiersdorf acquired a significant stake in the business, becoming the second-largest shareholder of the rapidly growing skincare and tech start-up.

8. Wishtrend: Founded in 2010, the company is focused on content creation and beauty brand incubation. Their Wishtrend TV channels have received the Gold Play button on YouTube. Their portfolio includes cosmeceuticals By Wishtrend, natural Jungle Botanics, and vegan, eco-friendly “dear, Klairs” which just launched at Ulta.

• Their YouTube channel WishTrendTV has over 1.3 million subscribers. They produce daily content on skincare and tutorials on K-beauty.
• They review customer input and reflect them in the development of future products to create products that customers actually need.

9. Reziena: Founded in 2017, the brand develops personal homecare beauty IoT devices that use intense focused ultrasound (IFU) technology. They showcased their product (Young & Be) at CES 2019 in Las Vegas. Most of their products are customizable and handheld, so consumers can use them at home. Currently, they are developing a smart sheet mask with LED and iontophoresis technology. After their test trial, they will look to enter the North American market.

• Reziena has gotten funding from Future Play and TIPS.
• Selected as AmorePacific and TechUP+ collaboration partner.
• Participated in the first Nivea accelerator.
• Their focus in 2020 will be to continue developing its Big Data platform for at-home personalized beauty.

10. Limese: Limese is a Korean cosmetics distribution platform in India founded in 2016. The company handpicks products to suit the Indian beauty consumer. Limese targets 20- to 30-year-olds and provides Korean cosmetics to salons, spas, health and wellness stores, and also operates its own online platform. Its brand lineup includes popular Korean brands such as dear, Klairs, L.O.C.K., Makeprem, Velyvely, and Abybom.

• Limese received an investment of $900,000 from Kakao Ventures, closing their seed round.

Runners-Up:

• Korean Beauty Media Startup Soak
• AR hair and fashion app Hairfit
• Mobile app Zamface
• Haircare brand Code for Beauty
• Beauty start-up LOVBOD and Merry Monde