Baemin founder Kim Bong-jin backs luxury-resale startup Fapis in angel round
What's the deal? FapisDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a South Korean platform that repairs and consigns secondhand luxury goods, has raised an undisclosed angel round led by Kim Bong-jin, founder of delivery giant BaeminDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and chairman of Grande ClipDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. Kim invested in a personal capacity. The company, operated by LRHR, also opened its first flagship store in Seoul's Nonhyeon-dong.
Why now? The deal lands just months after Fapis closed a bridge round in July backed by Smilegate InvestmentDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and SparkLabs. It has also drawn earlier investment from Bon Angels and Base VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.
What's the endgame? Fapis runs a "fix-and-sell" model: customers upload photos, receive a repair quote and expected sale price, then pay repair and commission fees only after the item sells. The approach leans on six years of repair data and a repair network built by its three co-founders, former high-school classmates.
The 100-pyeong (roughly 330m²) Nonhyeon store operates by appointment, with five rooms for one-on-one appraisal, repair, and consignment consultations. "With secondhand luxury goods being expensive, whether customers can trust you with them matters most," said chief executive Kim Jung-min (translated from Korean). The store aims to add offline trust to an online service.
What could go wrong? Larger platforms such as Musinsa Used and Kream are expanding into secondhand and luxury, raising the question of whether Fapis can cover offline operating costs while sustaining profitable growth.
Fapis is also pushing overseas. It now exports to more than 10 countries, including France, Germany, the UK, the US, Japan, the UAE, and Australia, positioning South Korea as a supply hub for the global resale market.
The signal: Usage is climbing fast — monthly sale requests run around 10,000, third-quarter transaction volume tripled year on year, and 48% of customers consigned two or more items. The bet is that offline consultation can solve the trust gap that online-only resale struggles to close for high-value goods.
Read more: wowtale.net
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
