Modhaus, a South Korean startup in the realm of blockchain-based K-pop, has secured $8 million in its series A funding round, spearheaded by Sfermion, a U.S. venture capital firm. The funding aims to propel Modhaus’s expansion, focusing on introducing additional blockchain-based applications within the Korean entertainment sphere.
As per the company’s official statement, the series A funding round also witnessed the participation of investors such as SM Culture Partners, Laguna Investment, KDDI Open Innovation Fund III, and Foresight Ventures.
Established in December 2021, Modhaus has orchestrated the creation of tripleS, a K-pop girl group boasting more than 1.74 million subscribers on YouTube, utilizing its unique non-fungible token (NFT) voting system. Through Modhaus’ COSMO app, enthusiasts can acquire NFT photocards, serving as voting tokens.
According to Modhaus, fans can accumulate utility tokens by amassing NFT-format photocards of their preferred idol members. These tokens empower them to actively partake in decisions related to group activities, ranging from member engagements to selecting cities for various events, album jacket photoshoots, and more.
Jaden Jeong, Modhaus’s CEO and co-founder, emphasized the discerning insights of K-pop fans, aiming to augment artist value through heightened fan engagement.
Simon Kim, CEO, and Managing Partner of Hashed, an entity that both invested in and nurtured Modhaus, anticipates that akin to the transformative impact of media and streaming on the music industry, web3 will serve as the next revolutionary force in the music domain.
GD Kim, COO of UNOPND, a venture division of Hashed, highlighted that since its inception, COSMO has seen nearly 130,000 dedicated K-pop enthusiasts purchase 1.2 million digital photocards, illustrating Modhaus’s success in driving widespread adoption of blockchain technology in the entertainment sector.
K-pop, a genre that has captivated global audiences in recent years, is witnessing major Korean music labels, such as HYBE, which manages prominent acts like BTS, SEVENTEEN, and NewJeans, delve into the realm of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the metaverse.
HYBE introduced its NFT platform, Momentica, in October 2022, in collaboration with Korean blockchain firm Dunamu. Recently, Momentica unveiled an NFT collection featuring videos and photos of SEVENTEEN coinciding with the release of their new album, Seventeenth Heaven. The platform has already attracted over 90,200 fans who have purchased SEVENTEEN NFTs, according to data available on the collection page.