Asian food, culture and products are all getting popular in the North American market. Yami, a North American Asian market D2C ( Direct Consumer Transaction ) platform, has attracted approximately 60.7 billion won ($50 million ) of Series B investment from Altos Ventures and others. This investment was led by Altos Ventures and Balsam Bay Partners , and existing Series A investors JP Morgan and GGV Capital also participated as follow-up investments.
With this Series B investment, Yami plans to focus on shortening delivery times, diversifying sales items, strengthening seller support on the platform, and securing supply chain technology to respond to growing demand.
Yami serves products from Korea, Japan, China
Founded in 2013, Yami is the largest D2C platform for the Asian market in North America, providing customers in North America with a variety of the latest Asian products. Currently, it handles about 260,000 products from 4,000 brands in Korea, Japan, China and Asia, including Dr. Jart, CJ Foods, Samyang, and Lotte. In particular, Yami provides a high level of customized personalized product recommendations and competitive prices for customers from various backgrounds through the latest technology. It is also incorporating insight technology that can predict product sourcing and inventory of suppliers and sellers .
According to a report by the Pew Research Center at the U.S. Census Bureau in 2021, the Asian American population has grown 81% since 2000 and is expected to triple by 2060 , making it the fastest-growing population in the United States. Yami targets these Asian Americans as a key target, and Americans who are interested in Asian culture are also a major customer base. Currently, there are about 2 million Yami service customers, which is 1 in 10 Asian Americans .
Alex Zhou, Founder and CEO of Yami, said, “We are a professional online marketplace that has been introducing the most popular Asian products to consumers across North America for nearly a decade. Had great difficulty finding and purchasing . The Asian population living in the United States has nearly tripled in the past 30 years, and we aim to be the best resource for these customers and all Americans. Through this investment, we are able to spur the development of a new route to provide Asian products more easily.”
“Yami leverages the power of global e-commerce to deliver the comfort of being at home and the culture you love, no matter where you are in the world, ” said Hans Tung, Partner at GGV Capital and Yami ’s Board of Directors . The explosive growth was driven by the loyalty of American customers . The team has an excellent ability to understand and respond to customers, and we look forward to supporting Alex in the next investment phase . ”
“Since the founding of the company, Alex and his team have worked tirelessly and fiercely to provide the best selection and service to our customers, ” said Richard Song, a partner at Altos Ventures who led this investment . “As a result, Yami It is now one of the largest online Asian product sellers in North America. We believe Yami is ready to continue growing , and we are very excited to be part of that journey.”
