Verlinvest invests in Yepoda

Verlinvest led Yepoda’s Series B round in March 2025, with continued participation from existing investors V3 Ventures and JamJar Investments. The amount was not disclosed. Yepoda became the first company to move from Verlinvest’s venture arm to its growth equity platform. Co-founders Sander Joonyoung van Bladel and Veronika Strotmann continued to lead the business. Founded in 2020 and based in Berlin, Yepoda develops and sells Korean-style skincare for the Western market: cleansers, serums, moisturisers and eye creams formulated and manufactured in South Korea, without silicones, sulphates, parabens or synthetic fragrance. Its range comprises 23 products priced between 20 and 35 euros, sold to more than a million customers across France, Italy, Spain, Germany, the United Kingdom and, since late 2024, the United States. It employs 85 people. Revenue reached €50–100M in 2024, up 120% on the previous year and achieved profitably. The company sold directly to consumers through its own website for its first four years, a model that gives control over the customer relationship and the data behind it but caps reach at those who already know the brand. Its entry into Sephora in March 2025, across more than 100 European stores including the Champs-Élysées and Corso Vittorio Emanuele, marked its first retail distribution. Korean skincare has drawn Western consumers towards multi-step routines and ingredients unfamiliar to European formulators, but most Korean brands reach those markets through importers rather than directly. Yepoda manufactures in Korea while building the brand, the packaging and the marketing for Western buyers, and competes less with other Korean brands than with the efficacy-led skincare companies occupying the same shelves.