MS and Deutsche Telekom Invest 16.8 Billion KRW Stake in 'K App Market' One Store

[Asia Economy Reporter Joeslgina] Microsoft (MS) and Deutsche Telekom have decided to invest a total of $15 million (16.8 billion KRW) in One Store, a 'native app market' in which Korea's three major mobile carriers, including SK Telecom, and Naver participate. By securing powerful global partners, it is evaluated that this will not only boost future global app market expansion but also accelerate the upcoming initial public offering (IPO).

On the 1st, SK Telecom and One Store announced that they successfully attracted investment from MS and Deutsche Telekom's investment company DTCP. This overseas investment was secured shortly after confirming equity investments from domestic mobile carriers such as KT and LG Uplus just three months ago in March.

With this investment, One Store is recognized externally for its growth potential and is regarded as a strong contender in the app market led by global companies. SK Telecom stated, "One Store has secured its status as Korea's representative app market with domestic and international telecom companies and global IT firms as shareholders."

The investment amount from MS and DTCP totals 16.8 billion KRW. However, the exact equity stake has not been disclosed. The existing equity structure was SK Telecom 50.1%, Naver 26.3%, financial investors 18.6%, KT 3.1%, LG Uplus 0.7%, and others 1.2%.

This investment attraction is also an extension of the strategic partnership that SK Telecom has maintained with MS and Deutsche Telekom in areas such as 5G. Various collaborations are expected in the mid to long term, including ▲ nurturing the gaming ecosystem ▲ discovering new opportunities for domestic game creators and content ▲ cloud cooperation ▲ global platform expansion. When global game companies release games on One Store, it can serve as a bridge to distribute directly to the European market. Beyond games, the global expansion of various K-content such as webtoons and e-books is also expected to gain momentum.

One Store's IPO efforts are also accelerating. One Store has proven its business competitiveness with a recent turnaround to profitability and 11 consecutive quarters of transaction growth. According to big data platform company IGAWorks, One Store's growth rate in the first quarter of this year reached 35.2% compared to the same period last year. This is about 4.5 times higher than the growth rates of other global app markets.

Additionally, One Store recently acquired ‘Rock Media,’ a genre novel specialized publisher, to strengthen its content business in web novels and webtoons, and has also established a content studio joint venture (JV) with Yes24, further enhancing its content business capabilities.

Lee Jaehwan, CEO of One Store, said, "We have taken a step forward as Korea's representative app market with domestic and international telecom companies and global IT firms as shareholders," adding, "Based on this investment, we will focus more on fostering a healthy domestic app market ecosystem and accelerate global expansion."

Sarah Bond, Vice President of Game Creator Experience and Ecosystem at MS, said, "We are very pleased that One Store is realizing the grand vision of an open store on Android mobile, and we plan to collaborate to expand games to more creators and players worldwide."

Vicente Bento, CEO of DTCP, said, "We are pleased to participate in One Store's successful growth journey through our investment," and added, "We plan to support One Store's entry into the global market through cooperation with SK Telecom."

Ha Hyungil, Head of Corporate 2 Center at SK Telecom, said, "The equity investment by Microsoft and DTCP is more than just a financial investment; it will be an important momentum for strengthening One Store's competitiveness and innovating the Korean ICT ecosystem," and added, "We will continue to strive to achieve outstanding results through close cooperation with our partners."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.