Memebox tallies nearly $70m in funding
Memebox is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and was part of the startup incubator Y Combinator. That group invests several thousands of dollars into each company it brings in, in exchange for 7% equity.
Y Combinator works with promising startups, primarily in the web and mobile space, on business and product ideas, planning, scaling, dealing with investors, etc.
Arnold Hur, president of Memebox USA, tells internetretailer.com that participation in the Y Combinator program was “‘extremely important’ to the company’s growth so far.”
Dollars
The most recent, and forth, round of funding brings the total for Memembox to almost $100m. Venture capitalist firm Formation Group, a new investor for Memebox, led the round. Repeat investors Goodwater Capital and Pejman Mar Ventures were involved as well, according to the item on internetretailer.com.
The total figure for this round, which the company announced just this week, is $65.95m.
Digital
Memebox is a company made for the mobile age. “A lot of our customers have never touched a desktop computer,” Hur tells internetretailer.com.
Over 80% of Memebox’s sales happen through the company’s mobile app or mobile site. And, that’s by careful design. The company, which first got its start in South Korea in 2011 and relocated to the States three years later, is dedicated to younger consumers, those between 18 and 24 years of age.
Distribution
Much of the Memebox business remains overseas. And, Hur tells the press that a preponderance of the company’s revenue comes from China and the US.
Of the company’s approximately 500 employees, 60 are in the States and most others work in South Korea. That’s where the company makes its product and, accordingly, where its distribution is centered, as internetretailer.com notes.
The company is growing on both side of the ocean, though. “Memebox recently opened its first stand-alone shop in Seoul, South Korea,” according to that publication. “It also sells its products in physical Watsons Personal Care Stores in Asia and says it will continue to investigate selling at other retail stores.”
And, Memebox is looking to increase its team in the US to over 100 people in 2017.
