One Store secures $14.8 mn investment from Krafton

South Korean homegrown app store One Store Co. has attracted a 20-billion-won ($14.8-million) investment from Krafton Inc.

The company's goal is to become an alternative to the app market dominated by Apple and Google through its overseas expansion.

"We highly evaluate One Store's potential as it prepares for overseas expansion," said a Krafton source. He added that the investment was made to gain a better understanding of the overseas gaming market through One Store.

One Store was founded in 2016 by integrating the app markets of the three major South Korean telecom companies, SK Telecom, KT, and LG Uplus, along with Naver's App Store. SK Square is the largest shareholder in One Store, holding a 46.4% stake.

Naver (24.4%) and KT (2.9%), both founding members, as well as LG Uplus (0.7%), also hold stakes. Microsoft and DTCP, Deutsche Telekom's investment vehicle, which participated in a 2021 investment, also have stakes of 1.2% and 0.6%, respectively.

One Store plans to use the investment proceeds to accelerate its overseas expansion. It sees the opportunity to introduce a policy measure that mandates third-party app markets as a means to curb the influence of big tech companies, particularly in the US and Europe.

The European Union's Digital Markets Act includes regulations that designate platform operators above a certain scale as "gatekeepers."

Due to these institutional changes, the legal basis has been established for third-party store apps like One Store to be installed on Apple's iOS, which has typically prohibited the installation of other app markets.

Following the establishment of its first overseas subsidiary in Singapore in April last year, One Store added another subsidiary in the Netherlands in August this year.

Based on its overseas expansion success, the company also plans to attempt an initial public offering (IPO) again. Last year, the company started preparing for an IPO but withdrew its listing due to the offer price falling below expectations in May.

Write to Seung-Woo Lee at leeswoo@hankyung.com