Home shopping channels emerge as key venture investment players

[Courtesy of CJ ONSTYLE]

The debut of beauty tech company APR Corp. on the main Kospi market on February 27 has brought smiles to CJ ONSTYLE, the media commerce division under CJ ENM Co.

In June 2023, CJ ONSTYLE made a strategic investment of 2 billion won ($1.5 million) in rapidly-growing APR. APR’s home beauty device brand, Medicube, witnessed a sales surge of about six times compared to the previous year, thanks to its collaboration with CJ ONSTYLE.

Home shopping channels, like CJ ONSTYLE, are emerging as significant players in the domestic venture investment industry by leveraging their strength in introducing products from various startups and small enterprises, identifying promising companies early on.

Apart from APR, CJ ONSTYLE has invested in a diverse range of companies.

In April 2022, it invested 3 billion won in AMONDZ, the leading jewelry vertical platform in Korea. CJ ONSTYLE actively participated in product planning with AMONDZ and exposed the brand on Mnet’s popular program “Street Woman Fighter 2,” creating synergies between the two entities.

This trend extends beyond CJ ONSTYLE, as other major home shopping channels are also actively engaging in venture investments.

GS Shop participated in the pre-IPO of Everybot, a robotic vacuum cleaner company, in 2017. Everybot, known for developing the world’s first wheel-less mopping robot in 2016, received a 950 million won investment from GS Home Shopping in November 2017.

In 2020, Hyundai Home Shopping invested 12 billion won in Different Millions (DMILL), a beauty-focused multi-channel network (MCN) specializing in beauty.

Since then, it has launched products co-developed with DMILL and broadcasted home shopping sales.