Art Busan successfully raises first investment round - securing foundation for expanding domestic art market base and the fair's global expansion - PR Newswire APAC
Summary
Despite concerns about the ongoing economic downturn, this investment round validates the sustained interest in the art market and the high value and growth potential of the Art Busan brand. Prominent unicorn startup founders and renowned investors including Sanghun Kim, former CEO of Naver, Kelvin Dongho Kim, CEO of Korea Credit Data, Simon Seojoon Kim, CEO of Hashed and Tony Lyu, venture partner at SoftBank Ventures Asia are among the list of investors. Koreas leading fashion platform Musinsa and global mobility group CTR have also joined this initial investment round.Through this round of investment, Art Busan has successfully secured the optimal strategic partnership base required to expand its existing art fair business to Seoul and the global market. At the same time, it has positioned itself to operate a diverse range of new ventures within the on and offline sectors of the international art markets, which require strategic alliance.Art Busan was established in 2011 with the ambition to transform the culturally marginalized city of Busan into a city of culture. By 2022, Art Busan attained Koreas top art fair brand title, in terms of visitor numbers, total sales volume, and art fair ranking conducted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, establishing itself as an art fair brand that gained not only domestic but also international attention.