New $50 million investment brings One Store a step closer to IPO

One Store

Home grown app marketplace One Store attracted $50 million from Nasdaq-listed mobile solutions company Digital Turbine, the Korean company said Wednesday, bringing the firm a step closer to its IPO initiative.

The initial $10 million investment will be made through stock purchases, according to the two companies, after which time the U.S. company will own 1.4 percent of One Store. Additional vehicles for the rest of the investment have yet to be confirmed.

One Store hopes the latest investment will act as a steppingstone for its global advancement initiative.

Digital Turbine is a Texas-based technology company that has partnerships with more than 40 mobile operators in the world. Its software is installed on more than 800 million devices, according to One Store.

One Store's valuation will reach 920 billion won with the latest investment, per the company.

“Digital Turbine's investment offers a great opportunity for One Store to work with an outstanding partner in expanding into global markets,” said One Store CEO Peter Chun in a release Wednesday. “We will go beyond being Korea's leading app market to grow into a global player.”

One Store withdrew its plan to go public in 2021 due to unfavorable market conditions.

Since then, it has attracted multiple investments from global companies.

Microsoft and Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners invested $15 million in 2021, which was followed by 20 billion won ($15 million) investment from domestic game company Krafton last year.

“We're excited to partner with One Store, trailblazers in alternative app markets reaching tens of millions of users,” said Digital Turbine CEO Bill Stone in a release Wednesday.

“This partnership will bring Digital Turbine's unique technology to tens of millions of users and hundreds of app developers in Korea. We look forward to building on our partnership with One Store in Korea into other parts of the world, such as the EU, with the pending implementation of the Digital Markets Act next month.”

BY JIN EUN-SOO [jin.eunsoo@joongang.co.kr]