K-Beauty Brand Aggregator B2LiNK Acquires Picky Inc.

Addition of popular skincare community app bolsters B2LiNK�s strong global lineup of beauty brands

SEOUL, South Korea–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#Cosmetics—B2LiNK Corporation, the leading global purveyor of Korean beauty (K-Beauty) brands, and Picky Inc., the digital skincare community app embraced by K-beauty enthusiasts worldwide, today announced that both companies have entered into a formal agreement for B2LiNK Corporation to acquire Picky with an anticipated close by end January 2022. B2LiNK, which has raised $23M since its 2014 founding, is today a significant global player focused on the K-Beauty market. This acquisition enables B2LiNK to bolster its leadership position and global lineup of beauty brands and helps Picky to leverage B2LiNK’s network and resources to further expand its strong community base and global reach.

As the leading online B2B K-Beauty platform based in Seoul, South Korea, B2LiNK excels at identifying top K-Beauty companies with proven, 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 $30M ARR in 2021. Its brand business has grown more than 300 percent growth for 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 $25M revenue and $4M 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.”

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.

“In what has been a challenging time for startups worldwide, we’re proud to have gained an avid following of hundreds of thousands of regular users in our skincare community,” said Jihong Lee. “Our team set our sights on the global marketplace on day one, and the opportunity to keep that momentum going with the resources behind B2LiNK is the perfect match.”

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.

About B2LiNK Corporation

B2Link is an innovative consumer brand aggregator and global Korean Beauty B2B distribution company providing experience-based sales and marketing consultation. The company finds undervalued local brands with proven product market fit, and grooms them into global brands scaling into international markets. Founded in 2014, B2LiNK partners with more than 150 Korean cosmetics brands and 80+ online and offline distribution channels worldwide. B2Link has successfully grown their portfolio into seven brands in total and have surpassed $30M ARR in 2021. Its brand business is growing at a rate of 3x each year, and 90 percent of revenue came from outside the domestic market, with major success in the Southeast Asia region. For more information, visit www.b2link.co.kr.

About Picky Inc.

Picky is a mobile-first community that enables consumers to discover the best skincare and beauty brands and products that are right for them through extensive user reviews, educational content, and experts’ contributions. With a focus on authenticity, education, and personalization, its community creates and consumes content about skincare and beauty, including K-Beauty. Picky’s product is cross-platform: iOS, Android, and web. The company is tackling the $250B beauty industry and aims to become the world’s largest source of authentic information in the industry. For more information, visit www.gopicky.com or check out Picky on the App Store and Google Play.

Contacts

Mary Placido

SKC, Inc.

(415) 218-3627

mary@skc-pr.com