South Korean beauty brand aggregator B2Link announced on 3rd January that it will acquire skincare community app, Picky, to bolster its global lineup of beauty brands. The deal is expected to close by the end of January 2022.
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B2LiNK, which has raised US$23M since its 2014 founding, is a global player focused on the K-Beauty market identifying companies with innovative products and grooming them into global brands through retail and marketing leadership. To date, B2LiNK has extended its portfolio to include seven brands that have surpassed US$30 million Annual Recurring Revenue in 2021. Its brand business has grown more than 300 percent during the past two years, with 90 percent of their revenue coming from outside South Korea. Its flagship brand, Skin1004 is expected to wrap up a successful 2021 with US$25 million revenue and US$4 million profit.
“K-beauty is a global phenomenon. There is a seemingly endless pool of unique indie brands relevant for global beauty consumers, and we have access to established distribution channels to meet the demand for K-Beauty products everywhere,” said Nate Sohyung Lee, B2Link’s co-founder and CEO.
“We’re helping K-Beauty products become much more accessible in more markets through our deep experience in the retail business and world-class global marketing team. With the Picky acquisition, we’ve strengthened our team and firmly established our No. 1 market position in Korea,” added Nate Sohyung Lee.
As part of the acquisition, Picky founder and CEO Jihong Lee will join B2LiNK as Chief Marketing Officer and board member, leveraging his career experience that spans international roles with Google and Supercell.
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Through this acquisition, Picky aims to build on its strong community base of more than 250,000 global users and growth throughout 2021. Its web and mobile app-based community has established itself as a top “every day’ app for skincare enthusiasts worldwide, including those passionate about K-Beauty products. B2LiNK sees the synergy with Picky’s offerings as one that helps source up-and-coming brands looking to generate interest with skincare enthusiasts in the space, leveraging Picky’s proprietary data powered by its community.