LATELY

Lately Korea operates 'LATELY', a mobile application and online shopping platform focused on curating and selling products from South Korean fashion designers. Founded in 2012 as Pravs Korea by CEO Yeon Jin Andrew Chu, the company initially focused on online distribution for major offline shopping malls and department stores. In 2015, it was acquired by the Silicon Valley e-commerce firm Sazze Inc., subsequently rebranding to Lately Korea. This acquisition facilitated the launch of the premium boutique site 'Lately' and provided significant investment for growth.

The LATELY platform functions as a marketplace, hosting over 250 Korean designer brands and providing them with a comprehensive digital storefront. It offers services that extend beyond simple sales transactions, including content creation such as seasonal lookbooks, videos, and interviews to assist with brand building. The business model serves both designers, by offering a sales channel and marketing support, and consumers, by providing a single point of access to a wide array of curated Korean fashion. The platform also features a dedicated customer service team to manage communication between customers and brand managers.

In addition to the LATELY app, the company operates 'SellerHub', a B2B real-time product brokerage platform that connects brands with numerous large-scale online shopping malls and open marketplaces like SSG, GS Shop, and Coupang. This solution helps the 400+ brands on its system manage inventory and sales channels efficiently. Initially launched in 2016 with 50 employees, the company has expanded its reach, and as of late 2017, planned to re-enter the Japanese market and release a multilingual app to better serve a global audience.

Keywords: Korean fashion, e-commerce, designer brands, fashion marketplace, mobile shopping, online retail, B2B platform, SellerHub, K-fashion, brand incubation, fashion technology, online distribution, apparel, accessories, Pravs Korea