UK's ShowPlusX to Acquire Hello Market, One of Korea's First-Generation Secondhand Trading Platforms [fn Market Watch]

[Financial News]  UK-based global cultural platform ShowPlusX is acquiring Hello Market, one of Korea's first-generation secondhand trading platforms. Rather than building a new platform in Korea, the company plans to shorten its entry into the Korean market by securing Hello Market's 15 years of payment, membership and operational infrastructure.
According to investment banking industry sources and ShowPlusX on the 28th, ShowPlusX recently signed an agreement to acquire control of Hello Market. Once the transaction is completed, Hello Market will change its corporate name to ShowPlusX Korea and become a hub company overseeing the group's operations in Korea.
The key value of the transaction lies not in Hello Market's secondhand trading business itself, but in the platform infrastructure it has accumulated.
Founded in 2011, Hello Market is one of Korea's first-generation mobile secondhand trading platforms. It introduced a secure payment system early on and transitioned to a fully contactless trading model. The platform has recorded 8 million cumulative downloads, while the company says its GA4-based number of active users over the past 90 days was approximately 18.32 million.
Using this foundation, ShowPlusX plans to introduce participatory competitions in music and performance to Korea, then expand into sports, travel and the performing arts.
Headquartered in London, ShowPlusX is a participatory cultural platform. Its model allows fans to directly support competitions in music, sports and creator content, as well as participate in deciding the rankings. The first project, a global singing competition called Top Vocal Challenge, has a first-round total prize pool of approximately $2 million.
Meanwhile, investment banking industry sources viewed the transaction as an infrastructure M&A deal that allows an overseas platform to reduce the cost and time required to enter the Korean market by acquiring an existing platform instead of building a user base from scratch.
An investment banking industry source noted, "In platform M&A deals, the value of leveraging infrastructure with actual payment and operational experience is more important than simply counting members." The source added, "The key point to watch in this acquisition is how quickly Hello Market's existing systems can be integrated with new cultural services."
[email protected] Kim Kyung-ah Reporter