Korean beauty firm B2Link buys digital skincare community

“A couple of years ago, we believed that Korean beauty was dead in the global market,” Jihong Lee and Nate Sohyung Lee, the respective CEOs of skincare firms Picky and B2Link, said in an interview with Tech in Asia.

The founders of the South Korean firms were reflecting on the time when tensions over the presence of the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system on the Korean peninsula, which led China to restricting the import of South Korean goods and the country’s cultural influence.

China was the largest buyer of South Korea’s cosmetics products in 2019, accounting for 65.6% of outbound shipments of cosmetics produced in the latter.

Photo credit: 123rf

Changing course to ratchet up demand in global markets, Korean beauty products aggregator B2Link has acquired Picky, a digital skincare community, to create a local lineup of cosmetic products with great potential.

The companies have not disclosed the size of the acquisition.

As part of the deal, Lee will become B2LiNK’s chief marketing officer and a member of its board, on the back of his experience, which includes stints at Google and Supercell.

B2Link will use Picky’s proprietary data to find and acquire up-and-coming brands looking to generate interest with skincare enthusiasts.

A manual for scaling Korean beauty products

Seoul-based B2Link identifies K-beauty companies with proven track records of growing revenue. It then scoops them up and develops them into a global brand with retail and marketing assistance.

Photo credit: B2Link

B2Link prefers brands that have an active presence in Korea but are not as well known outside the country. It is looking to acquire two to five companies every year.

“A small brand may be successful in scaling within Korea, but it is difficult to find the right partners and operate globally in a larger market,” Lee said.

Founded in 2014, B2Link has built a network of over 500 resellers globally, including those in Shopee, Lazada, and Amazon. Picky’s market data on product revenues and country-wise spending, among others, will help B2Link scale smaller Korean beauty firms more effectively and with significant cost savings.

Eliminating the stigma around male beauty