Crit Ventures’ Son: “Korean Cosmetics Exports Overtake the U.S. to Become No. 2 in the World, Webtoon at $7.8 Billion, Japan’s No. 1 Piccoma” — Revealing the Mechanism Behind K-Culture Exports at T4IS 2026
Summary
Crit Ventures founder Jaejoon Song delivered a keynote at T4IS2026 outlining how South Korea scaled K-Culture via technology platforms and data-driven funnels. He highlighted key metrics — K-Beauty exports overtook the U.S. to become the world No.2 ($3.61B vs $3.57B in 2025 Q1), the global Webtoon market at $7.8B, and Korean content accounting for ~8% of global Netflix viewing — to show platform-native export success. Song contrasted Japan's craft-first, scale-later IP model with Korea's scale-first, craft-later model and gave five practical principles for Japanese firms to build export systems (amateur-first platforms, data-driven production, talent pipelines, owning checkout, and localization from day one). He also noted OpenAI Apps' ecosystem role and highlighted Korean startups (e.g., Artue) as early entrants in AI app platforms.
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