eBay's corporate venture capital (CVC) eBay Ventures announced on the 21st that it made a Series B investment of 700 million yen (approximately 6.5 billion won) in the digital marketing company A1 Media Group on the 11th of last month. This investment is a result of a high evaluation of A1 Media Group's technological capabilities and its potential in the e-commerce market.
The eBay representative explained that the demand for efficient online marketing in the Japanese e-commerce market is growing, and the expansion of the Korea-Japan cross-border market necessitated differentiated support for K sellers. A1 Media Group is a digital marketing company with an annual advertising transaction volume of approximately 74 billion won. It currently offers a multi-channel advertising platform called "SingleONE" to online marketplace corporations in Korea and Japan.
eBay Japan plans to utilize SingleONE as a major seller advertising tool for Qoo10 Japan to address the biggest challenges faced by Korean sellers entering the Japanese market, specifically localization and local marketing-related core solutions. Since March of last year, A1 Media Group has been partnering with Qoo10 Japan to operate the "Qoo10 SingleONE" platform.
Kim Jae-don, head of marketing at eBay Japan, noted, "This partnership is significant in that it aims to create an ecosystem for mutual growth with innovative e-commerce startups and sellers beyond just simple investment." He added, "We plan to operate it so that small and medium-sized sellers, who lack marketing resources, can see a virtuous cycle effect of actual sales growth through efficient advertising operations."
Jeong Jae-woo, CEO of A1 Media Group, said, "Recognizing our growth potential and technological capabilities, we will enhance our core solutions through this investment," and added, "We will focus our capabilities to contribute to the rapidly growing cross-border market between Korea and Japan."
Meanwhile, eBay Ventures, established in 2022, is a strategic venture investment organization under the eBay Group that invests in innovative startups in the e-commerce sector. To date, it has invested in over 10 innovative corporations worldwide, focusing on marketplace innovation, e-commerce activation, and the AI sector.