From Online Games to K-Beauty: The Accelerated Global Spread of Hallyu Driven by Venture Companies

Venture companies are playing a pivotal role in the global expansion of Hallyu. Since the late 1990s, when high-speed internet became commercially available alongside policies aimed at fostering venture businesses, startups have served as experimenters and pioneers as Korean culture transformed into an industrial sector. Behind the phenomenon of Korean popular culture being consumed overseas are venture companies from various industries. PMC Production, the company behind the non-verbal theater performance “Nanta,” received certification as a venture business in 2000, the first in the performing arts industry, and opened Asia’s first dedicated theater in New York’s Off Broadway district in 2004. Online games became the first area of industrialization for Hallyu cultural content. Companies such as Nexon were established in 1996, followed by NCSOFT and Neowiz in 1997, all of which launched online services in regions including China, Japan, North America, and Southeast Asia. Unlike traditional subscription models, the partially paid model developed domestically became mainstream, growing to account for over half of total cultural content exports by the late 2000s. Subsequently, the animation industry also expanded globally. What began as subcontracting work for American and Japanese animations shifted into an original IP-driven industry after Iconix created “Pororo.” K-webtoons were industrialized as major services on portals such as Kakao and Naver, with Lezhin Comics taking the lead in developing paid webtoon models and exploring overseas markets including the United States. As demonstrated by the popularity of “K-Pop Demon Hunters,” K-culture content is enhancing Korea’s brand value. Kenneth Rogoff, a professor of economics at Harvard University, identified Korea’s soft power derived from its creativity as a core competitive advantage. This expansion of Hallyu industries is also extending into fields such as K-beauty and K-fashion. After succeeding in industrializing the online game industry, venture companies continued to broaden the scope of Hallyu through the growth of mobile games and digital platforms. Erika Lim, a professor at Hanyang University, stated, “Venture companies have acted as experimenters who blaze new paths in Hallyu culture, facilitators who industrialize cultural products, and pioneers who open up global markets,” indicating that the venture ecosystem is the key foundation driving the growth of Hallyu industries.