Hwahae: Connecting Korean Beauty SMEs with Global Buyers

A significant stepping stone has been laid for K-Beauty's global leap. Hwahae Global, which operates the beauty platform Hwahae, participated in the '2025 Cosmobeauty Seoul X K-Beauty Festa' held at COEX, Seoul from May 28th to 30th as a dedicated platform supporting small and medium-sized enterprises, providing powerful wings for K-Beauty brands to expand overseas. This event, held on the largest scale ever, saw over 160 global big buyers, including Sephora and Unilever, and more than 12,000 domestic and international visitors gather, proving the fervent interest in K-Beauty. Through its 'Beauty Platform Zone,' Hwahae directly connected 10 promising small and medium-sized brands, such as NEEDLY, LIVEM, and Make p:rem, with the overseas market, successfully facilitating practical business meetings. In particular, meetings with key buyers, including the Vice President of Sephora US, served as a crucial bridgehead for K-Beauty brands to leap onto the global stage. Furthermore, among brands that could not participate in the booth, 22 brands with award-winning histories or top rankings were additionally showcased, providing an opportunity to introduce them to global buyers, influencers, and general visitors. More than 700 global creators who visited the site experienced products at the booth and created content from them, significantly contributing to promoting K-Beauty brands on their respective social media channels. Kim Kyung-il, CEO of Hwahae Global, emphasized through this participation that "Hwahae has evolved from a simple review platform into a global beauty platform that genuinely supports the global expansion of small and medium-sized brands," and stated that they will continue to strengthen their role in encompassing the entire K-Beauty ecosystem, from data-driven brand discovery to support for overseas expansion. As Korea's largest beauty platform, with 12 million users and 9.3 million reviews, Hwahae surpassed 260,000 monthly active users (MAU) just six months after its global web launch, proving its potential in the global market. Moving forward, through global influencer marketing and B2B business expansion, it plans to establish itself as a core hub connecting K-Beauty brands and buyers, and accelerate the globalization of K-Beauty.