KorinMi raises Rs 3 crore, enters direct to customer retail market in India
"We're formalising a new category in professional Korean skincare tailored for Indian consumers with a high-trust clinical approach," KorinMi's co-founder Reshbha Munjal told ET Retail in an interview. KorinMi's funding round was led by Vikas Agarwal, the former CEO of Kaya Skin Clinic, and also saw participation from angel investors including Vivek Kumar of Venture Garage.
The business plans to use its new capital to widen its clinic network to reach more metro shoppers. In addition, KorinMi will harness the investment to launch its own direct to customer skincare range. The product line will use Korean beauty principles and cater to the growing demand for K-Beauty in India.
Indian national Reshbha Munjal and South Korean national Jenovia Daun Jung launched KorinMi last year. The business aims to tailor Korean skincare expertise to Indian beauty needs, according to its Facebook page. The brand currently counts two brick-and-mortar locations, one in New Delhi's Defence Colony and one in Gurugram's Worldmark.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fashion Network
10 hours ago
- Fashion Network
Trump's 50% levy is forcing Indian banks to scrutinise exporters
Indian banks are increasing scrutiny of new loan applications from exporters by asking about exposure to the US market and contingency plans for coping with US President Donald Trump 's steep tariffs, according to people familiar with the matter. Bloomberg News spoke to officials at five large Indian lenders who said they're assessing the financial ramifications of the punitive levies on their clients, especially those in the export-dependent textile, gem and jewellery sectors. They all spoke on the condition of anonymity, as the information is not public. Lenders are asking borrowers more pointed questions when vetting new export financing proposals or renewals of such funding, the people said. They added that some export orders are being put on hold while trade negotiations play out between New Delhi and Washington. The move comes after Trump doubled tariffs on India-made items in the space of a week, with the additional levy effective by Aug. 27, bringing the cumulative tariff to 50%. Businesses worry that this will severely disrupt shipments to the US by making Indian exports prohibitively expensive. The industries hit hardest — they are also among the most labour-intensive — have asked the Narendra Modi-led government to introduce measures to reduce the pain from the new trade barriers. Indian lenders are concerned the trade war will create new balance sheet stress and stoke painful memories of the country's distressed debt problem a few years back. Some of their key queries, according to the people, pertain to cash flows, business continuity plans and burden-sharing efforts with other stakeholders such as distributors. Some banks have begun to identify the most vulnerable clients internally by checking on financial parameters such as the percentage of revenue coming from the US, said two people Bloomberg News spoke to. The exposure to the highest-risk borrowers due to US levies isn't currently that worrisome, they added. Most of the exporters these bankers have spoken to about the trade issue said they're hopeful for a partial rollback of the US tariffs. Indian exporters have already started redrawing strategies to deal with the unexpected levies through measures such as expanding in other markets, shifting output from India to elsewhere and exploring acquisitions in the US. Some cash-rich exporters can sustain losses for a year or two but they worry about longer-term loss of business to rivals in Bangladesh and Pakistan, a person said. These neighbouring nations face lower US levies than India. India's Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal told Parliament late last month that the federal government is engaging with exporters to assess the impact of tariffs and will take 'all necessary steps to secure and advance our national interest.' The Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council is seeking support such as finance relief and duty drawbacks. Other requests include deferment of interest on working capital facilities by six months, 90-day pre-shipment and penalty-free loan payment extensions and a freeze on downward revisions of credit ratings, Kirit Bhansali, the trade group's chairman, said in an August 7 statement. Rating companies haven't taken any action yet on exporters' creditworthiness. However, borrowing companies are worried and seeking government assistance to prevent any slip in ratings that will spike the cost of funding. Other Indian business representatives want to see more liquidity in the banking system to offset damage from the US tariffs. India's government should push 'banks to lower the rate of interest' to keep businesses afloat, said Rahul Mehta, director at Mumbai-based Creative Garments Pvt. Removal of import duties on raw materials should also help, Mehta said, calling for a government response akin to Covid-era emergency policies.
AFP
19 hours ago
- AFP
Decade-old photo misrepresented as South Korean reaction to Trump's tariffs
The photo of a joyous crowd, superimposed with Korean-language text that reads "Response to 15 percent tariffs", was shared on Facebook on August 7, 2025. The photo is contrasted with an image of a protest, which is labelled "Response to 0 percent tariffs". The comparison circulated after Trump's July 30 announcement of a 15 percent tariff on South Korean imports -- below a 25 percent tariff that the US president had threatened earlier -- after extensive trade negotiations with Seoul (archived link). South Korean President Lee Jae Myung of the centre-left Democratic Party called the agreement the "first major trade challenge" since his administration came into power in June after the impeachment of Yook Suk Yeol from the conservative People Power Party (archived link). Opinion polling shows that a significant proportion of South Koreans believed Lee had fared well in negotiations, crediting him with avoiding a collapse in trade talks and preventing even harsher measures (archived link). Image Screenshot of the false Facebook post captured on August 8, 2025, with a red X added by AFP The image comparison was also shared in similar posts elsewhere on Facebook and Threads, as well as on right-wing forum Ilbe. "That's why we say leftists are brain-dead," read a comment on one of the posts. Another said: "What are those people thinking?" But the image comparison misleadingly uses a photo unrelated to any trade agreement between Washington and Seoul. Impeachment rally A reverse image search on Google found the photo of the celebrating crowd in a report published by The Korea Economic Daily on December 10, 2016 -- nearly a decade before Trump's tariff demands (archived link). According to its caption, the photo shows citizens cheering the impeachment of then-president Park Geun-hye, who was embroiled in a corruption scandal (archived link) The taken shortly after lawmakers passed the impeachment bill, following months of peaceful mass protests calling for Park's removal. Image Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared image (left) and The Korea Economic Daily's photo published in December 2016 (right) A reverse image search of the protest photo used in the false posts led to an article published in left-wing online newspaper Newscham on January 16, 2007 (archived link). Its caption says it shows protesters in Seoul rallying the US-Korea free trade agreement (FTA), which was signed later that year (archived link). Opponents of the FTA feared it would flood the Korean market with cheap US agricultural products, threatening the livelihoods of domestic farmers (archived link). Lee and his administration are frequent targets of disinformation online, which AFP has debunked multiple times.
LeMonde
2 days ago
- LeMonde
Trump's tariffs and strong euro act as double whammy for European companies
When the dollar began to slide in April following the announcement of so-called "reciprocal" tariffs by Donald Trump, many voices across Europe started to wonder: Could the euro's moment in the global spotlight be in sight? In the face of erratic decisions by the United States − which is amassing colossal debt − and a White House openly challenging the independence of the Federal Reserve, the single currency could offer a welcome haven of stability. Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank (ECB), even devoted a speech to this prospect: "The shift under way also offers opportunities for Europe to take greater control of its own destiny and for the euro to gain global prominence." Four months later, the main effect of this strong euro has been the complaints of businesses. Even more than the tariffs, which have so far been uncertain and unpredictable, major European companies have suffered from the euro's appreciation. Against the dollar, the euro gained 13% since the start of the year, now standing at $1.17; it has stabilized at around that level for a month. The euro appreciated by a similar amount against the yuan, China's currency, because Beijing has acted to keep its currency stable against the dollar. The euro also rose by around 6% against the Japanese yen and the South Korean won.
