IMM joins $600 mn fund for K-beauty unicorn Goodai Global in M&A drive
IMM Private Equity and five other South Korean private equity firms are set to invest a total of 800 billion won ($600 million) in Goodai Global Inc...
Kakao, Naver step up global AI hunt amid fierce tech race
South Korea’s internet pioneers, Kakao Corp. and Naver Corp., are ramping up overseas investments in artificial intelligence startups, shiftin...
K-beauty brands shine among Amazon’s 2025 Prime Day bestsellers
Cosmetics and beauty devices made by South Korean companies dominated Amazon’s biggest summer shopping event this year, Prime Day, underscorin...
Glass Skin boom: Why Seoul’s interactive beauty clinics are hottest stop for foreign tourists
On a recent morning in Seoul’s hip Seongsu neighborhood, a line of eager foreign tourists snaked around the corner of CJ Olive Young Corp.&rsq...
Yes, it’s K-beauty: Strong buying appetite for makeup brands even before they're up for sale
In South Korea’s M&A landscape, beauty companies are no longer waiting to put themselves on the market. They’re being courted before...
Maru SF to open in Silicon Valley in November as Korean startup gateway
Maru SF, a startup campus and networking hub operated by the Asan Nanum Foundation, will open in Silicon Valley this November, marking the organizat...
K-beauty contract manufacturers see record Q2 profits; rally likely to continue
South Korea’s major original design manufacturers (ODMs) for cosmetics, led by Cosmax Inc. and Kolmar Korea Co., are estimated to have posted ...
K-beauty craze sends Olive Young online sales to new heights
CJ Olive Young Corp., South Korea’s top beauty store chain, is another beneficiary of the global K-beauty surge, with its online cosmetics sal...
Samsung supplies newest nanoprism image sensors to Xiaomi to crack Sony’s lead
Samsung Electronics Co. is supplying a new high-performance image sensor featuring nanoprism technology to China’s Xiaomi, as the South Korean...
Korea’s game studios rebrand as AI tech firms, move into fashion, robotics, media
What was once a world of elves, dragons and power-ups is now giving rise to one of South Korea’s most unexpected tech revolutions, with game s...
Rap icon Cardi B joins K-beauty’s celebrity fan club with BB cream
Cardi B, the Grammy-winning rapper, has joined the growing list of celebrities spotlighting Korean beauty products, fueling a new wave of global ent...
Saudi Crown Prince bin Salman courts Korean AI startups as Riyadh, Abu Dhabi vie to build tech hubs
Back in the 1960s and 1970s, the Middle East was a land of opportunity for many South Korean construction workers, who labored there under the scorc...
Samsung to buy US health tech firm Xealth in digital health push
Samsung Electronics Co. will acquire Xealth, a US-based healthcare platform provider, as it steps up efforts to foster non-semiconductor businesses ...
Hong Kong-based CLSA to invest $36.6 mn in K-Beauty pioneer Jungsaemmool Beauty
Hong Kong-based private equity firm CLSA Capital Partners Ltd. has been picked as a preferred bidder to invest 50 billion won ($36.6 million) in Jun...
Sale of $1.5 bn Pangyo Tech 1, overseen by Mirae Asset, draws strong bids from global PEFs
The sale of Pangyo Tech 1, a landmark office tower in Pangyo, South Korea’s answer to the US' Silicon Valley, has drawn strong bidding interes...
Taekwang, Anchor Equity shortlisted for Aekyung stake
Taekwang Industrial Co., a South Korean chemical and textile company, and Anchor Equity Partners, a Hong Kong-based private equity firm, have emerge...
Blackstone in talks to acquire Korea’s top salon chain Juno Hair in $590 mn deal
US private equity firm Blackstone Inc. is pursuing the acquisition of Juno Hair, South Korea’s largest premium hair salon chain, in a deal tha...
Even barcodes copied: Counterfeits invasion threatens K-brands
Counterfeit Korean beauty, fashion and food products are surging on overseas e-commerce platforms, with lookalike packaging making them hard to dist...
Google to invest $100 mn in Gentle Monster in smart glasses push
Google LLC has signed an agreement to invest about 145.0 billion won ($100 million) in Gentle Monster, the South Korean fashion eyewear brand that i...
Lockheed Martin, KAI to expand partnership to future defense, aerospace tech
Global defense giant Lockheed Martin Corp. and Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd. (KAI) on Tuesday agreed to expand their collaboration into futur...
Amazon, Alibaba, TikTok up ante to woo Korean beauty brands
Riding the wave of global enthusiasm for K-Beauty, e-commerce powerhouses like Amazon and Alibaba are racing to bring South Korean cosmetics and bea...
LG CNS forms strategic partnership with robotics startup Skild AI
LG CNS Co., the information technology service arm of LG Group, said on Tuesday it has formed a strategic partnership with Skild AI to develop AI-dr...
Want to look beautiful? – Here’s the 'Made In Korea' mask pack
South Korean face mask packs – a flagship product of K-beauty – are staging a dramatic revival in popularity.Rising to fame alongside K-...
Samsung teases new foldable phones with advanced AI
Samsung Electronics Co. will empower its next Galaxy Z foldable smartphones with advanced artificial intelligence features as it seeks to extend its...
Hanjin KAL, LS expand defense business alliance to counter Hoban Group
South Korea’s Hanjin Group and LS Group are tightening their alliance further against Hoban Group, which is raising its stake in Hanjin.Korean...
South Korea’s startup M&A winter deepens capital bottleneck
South Korea’s startup M&A winter has deepened as once major investors like conglomerates are prioritizing restructuring over expansion, ch...
Bold food tech R&D fuels global rise of Korean cuisine
South Korea’s processed food exports are expected to reach 6 trillion won ($4.4 billion) this year after Korean food companies have aggressive...
Europe looms large as K-beauty brands look to blue ocean; shares rise
South Korea’s beauty industry has been reaping decent gains from traditionally strong markets such as China and the US – the world&rsquo...
K-Beauty defies seasonal slump with record $980 mn in April exports
The global appetite for Korean beauty products shows no sign of slowing, with their exports in April surging 20% year on year to a record high, ev...
Korea's science ministry picks 10 AI, digital startups to back global growth
South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT on Thursday announced that it has selected 10 startups founded by Koreans in a program to support th...
