'I'mweb', 10 Billion KRW First External Investment from Altos Ventures

Shopping Mall Solutions for Small Business Owners

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] Aimweb (CEO Lee Su-mo), a startup providing shopping mall solutions for small business owners, announced on the 30th that it has completed a Series A investment round worth 10 billion KRW.

This investment was made solely by Altos Ventures, based in Silicon Valley. Altos Ventures is an investment firm that has invested in major IT companies in Korea such as Coupang, Krafton, Woowa Brothers, Zigbang, Danggeun Market, and Viva Republica.

This investment is Aimweb's first external funding aimed at service advancement and securing excellent talent. Aimweb offers a solution that allows individuals or small brands to easily create websites and shopping malls without specialized knowledge such as development, Photoshop, or coding. With simple mouse operations, easy setup and management are possible, gaining strong support from small business owners and one-person sellers who find it difficult to afford developer labor costs or expensive outsourcing. Its ease of operation and management results in a customer retention rate approaching 94% one year after sign-up.

As of August this year, Aimweb has solidified its position as a leading shopping mall solution by surpassing 1.3 trillion KRW in client transaction volume and 340,000 site openings. It has grown to become the industry's second largest after the listed company Cafe24, with last year's revenue increasing by 70% compared to the previous year.

Based on this investment, Aimweb plans to accelerate the formation of the Aimweb ecosystem for small business owners and significantly increase its workforce. In the short term, Aimweb will strengthen its market position by advancing e-commerce services such as linking franchise sales channels and improving buyer convenience. It is also seeking market expansion through the automated marketing service for small business customers launched earlier this year, 'Aimweb Ad,' and the 'Aimweb Taiwan Service' introduced last year.

Hee-eun Park, partner at Altos Ventures who led the investment, said, "The number of small sellers selling unique brands and high-quality products is increasing, and despite the explosive demand for online sales due to the COVID-19 situation, existing website solutions are still not user-friendly." She added, "Aimweb's solid product was rapidly gaining word-of-mouth through sellers, and we decided to invest expecting it to become a reliable support for small business owners."

Lee Su-mo, CEO of Aimweb, stated, "Through this investment, we will actively recruit excellent talent to become a unique company that helps small business owners establish themselves online." He added, "Based on a solid domestic position, we will establish ourselves as a successful partner that can support sellers' global expansion."

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