MODHAUS, K-pop Fan Engagement Startup, Raises $8 Million in Series A Funding

Modhaus, a blockchain-based entertainment startup, has secured $8 million in Series A funding. The total cumulative amount raised is over USD 12 million (KRW 15.5 billion).

The round was led by Sfermion, a US-based venture capital firm specialising in metaverse and Web 3.0, with participation from domestic investors such as SM Culture Partners, SM Entertainment CVC, Laguna Investment and Japan’s KDDI Open Innovation Fund (managed by Global Brain), Foresight Ventures, Reflexive Capital and Cooper Turley, well-known music investors in the blockchain industry, Richard Ma, CEO of Quantstamp, and Michael Carter, CEO of Playco.

In previous rounds, the company has raised funding from UNOPND, the startup studio of Hashed, a Web3.0-focused venture capital firm, NAVER D2SF, CJ Investment and FuturePlay.

Modhaus is a startup entertainment agency and Web3.0 platform. COSMO, a platform developed and operated by Modhaus, allows fans to actively participate in important decisions related to the management of idol groups. When fans purchase digital photo cards on COSMO, they receive tokens that allow them to vote on the artist’s activities. Using blockchain technology, these tokens are fully recorded on the blockchain to ensure transparent voting.

In effect, artists on Modhaus not only interact with their fans, but also create content together. Produced by Modhaus CEO Jeong Byeong-gi, tripleS released five albums last year alone, selling over 170,000 copies in total, and was nominated for Best Female New Artist at the 2023 MAMA AWARDS. In addition, HaSeul, HeeJin, KimLip, JinSol and Choi Lee, former members of LOONA who are already familiar to K-pop fans at home and abroad, have recently joined the group under the new name ARTMS.

Dan Patterson, General Partner at Sfermion, who led the investment round, said: “Modhaus has innovatively connected K-pop fandom to the digital and physical worlds through NFTs, demonstrating the unique synergies that can be created by combining entertainment and technology. We hope that this investment will go beyond financial support and lead to a fruitful convergence of the immersive internet and the fascination of K-pop, opening up a wide range of opportunities”.

Jeong Byeong-gi, CEO & Founder of Modhaus, said, “K-pop fans have as keen an insight into artist talent and K-pop trends as professionals. This fan engagement is the backbone of the entertainment industry and Modhaus aims to provide a more advanced way of fan engagement. “As we have proven with tripleS in a short period of time, we believe that COSMO will grow to become the LinkedIn or Kickstarter of K-pop, maximising the value of artists.”

Modhaus will use the Series A funding to further develop the COSMO platform. It will create a space where fans can connect with artists and actively contribute to the growth of their favourite idol groups. The company is currently led by two co-founders, CEO Jeong Byeong-gi and Vice President Baek Kwang-hyun. CEO Jeong Byeong-gi has 25 years of production experience at JYP Entertainment, Woollim Entertainment and others, where he has developed many famous artists, while Vice President Baek Kwang-hyun is the former COO of digital content studio PLAYLIST and a former consultant at Bain & Company. In addition, CPO Park Jaehyun, former product lead of Toss, CCO Kim Jong-soo, former producer of Dreamcatcher and Dalshabet, CBO Lee Kyu-hwa, formerly of MyMusicTaste (MMT), and CFO Yang Ji-eun, formerly of NCORE Ventures, are all experts in their respective fields.