Wadiz Completes 'wadiz NEXT BRAND' Showcase Supporting Promising Startups & SMEs

- Wadiz Partners Emphasizes Growth Support Following Funding Challenges... Expanding the Funding Ecosystem

- Comprehensive Support Program 'Wadiz NEXT BRAND' Including Direct Investment, Domestic and International Market Expansion, and Matched Loans

- NEXT BRAND Selected Startup Representatives and Distribution Industry Officials Attended to Explore Collaboration Opportunities

Wadiz created an opportunity to promote the achievements of its growth support program for promising startups and small business owners while exploring collaboration opportunities.

Wadiz, a lifestyle design funding platform, successfully completed the second 'wadiz NEXT BRAND' showcase operated by Wadiz Partners at Wadiz headquarters in Pangyo on the 3rd, it was announced.

Wadiz NEXT BRAND is a co-growth support program that proactively discovers promising startups and SMEs (small business owners) and supports their scale-up through infrastructure support including investment and loans provided by Wadiz. Upon selection, companies can receive not only various follow-up distribution support but also investment funds of up to 100 million won per brand and recommendations for up to 500 million won in 'privately-linked matched loans'.

This showcase was held for the second time since the launch of the first cohort last year, and was organized as a networking event where newly selected promising brands and partners as NEXT BRAND over the past year gathered in one place to explore collaboration methods.

In attendance were approximately 30 professionals, including Wadiz brand incubation-related personnel and distribution industry officials from Lotte Home Shopping and CJENM, as well as beauty company practitioners from P&K Skin Clinical Research Center and Cosmax. Five companies selected as NEXT BRAND—▲AOT Corporation ▲HTO International ▲Power Player ▲Levitate ▲Ruca Lab Company—presented their brand stories and growth potential.

Park Sang-won, representative of Levitate, one of the selected NEXT BRAND companies, said, "With Wadiz Partners, we not only maximized funding results over the past year but also received great support in expanding our business, such as launching pop-up stores at three department stores," adding, "I am grateful to have found a reliable partner in Wadiz and entered a growth trajectory."

So Gang-seop, director of Wadiz Partners, said, "The core role of Wadiz Partners is to help promising startups that have verified market viability through funding to build competitiveness and grow," adding, "We will actively invest in promising lifestyle brands emerging as trends, such as vegan beauty and IP goods, and grow together."

Meanwhile, Wadiz Partners is a venture capital company (VC) established for the purpose of discovering, investing in, and nurturing promising startups. It began as an internal investment team at Wadiz, separated as an independent legal entity in 2020, and possesses specialized know-how linked to its parent company Wadiz's funding platform, investment, and business development. In 2023, it was selected as a private investor in the Private Investor-Linked Matched Loan Project conducted by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, enabling Wadiz Partners to provide additional policy loan support of up to 5 times the investment amount, up to 500 million won, to small business owners invested in by Wadiz Partners.