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| Ha Hyung-seok |
By Bahk Eun-ji
It's been three years since Ha Hyung-seok, the 30-year-old CEO of Memebox, set up the company selling an assortment of beauty products.
To offer the best Korean cosmetics products to global consumers, Ha entered the company into the U.S. market last year and set up its head office in Silicon Valley, a dream location for startups.
Memebox (pronounced "mimi;" "mi" means beauty in Korean) is similar to Birchbox, a New York City-based online monthly subscription service from which people can purchase a box of several selected cosmetic samples or other beauty products.
Subscribers to Memebox pay around 16,000 won ($15) per month and get a variety of makeup products worth 70,000 to 80,000 won.
It now has more than 300,000 subscribers both at home and abroad, with about 1,000 customers who sign on for the service daily. About 20,000 subscribers live in the U.S.
Its sales rose to 5 billion won last year from 1 billion won in 2012. Memebox offers 680 kinds of Korean brand cosmetics.
Ha said the Korean company targets a niche market in the cosmetics business.
"Cosmetic trends are changing rapidly and dozens of new products are pouring into the market every day. Memebox focuses on new products and giving customers the opportunity to use them," Ha said.
Ha said he developed a strong sense of how to create and promote a brand and its products during a stint as a public relations official at Tom Ford.
He graduated from the Parsons School of Design before he got a job at Tom Ford. Later, he moved back to Seoul and worked for TicketMonster in Korea.
He said the samples eventually prompt customers to buy regular products. Ha also runs an online cosmetics shopping mall, together with Memebox.
"I think it has been successful so far, because the business model of Memebox has created cycle in the distribution system of cosmetics; from customer's first experiences to them making purchases," he said.
Memebox is the first Korean startup accepted into the Y Combinator program. Y Combinator is a startup accelerator that provides seed money to early-state startups. It decided to invest $100,000 in Memebox in March.
The company also won a grand prize at a competition hosted by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning in July.
"Memebox is the first company to receive funds from Y Combinator, and it means the business model is reliable even in the global market," Ha said.
He is determined to grow the company into a representative cosmetic distribution channel in the global market, as well as in the domestic market.
"By doing so, I hope the service will provide the best opportunity to promote Korean cosmetic brands globally," Ha added.
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