AfterCompany, which provides the omni-channel cloud solution “Aft” for retail brands, announced that it has secured 1 billion KRW in seed funding from FuturePlay. AfterCompany was founded in December 2018 by CEO Park Jae-yeon, who initially ran offline retail operations, including multiple department stores and local shops. Driven by the challenges encountered through years of store management, Park ventured into the retail software solutions market around 2020. The “Aft” solution, which began with omni-channel setups for leading brands like Lotte Department Store’s edit shop and Ralph Lauren, discovered the core need and market opportunity of “providing insights through the integration of online and offline data” after various trials. 

The omni-channel cloud market that AfterCompany is targeting is experiencing rapid growth. The 7.7% annual growth rate of online-offline hybrid malls since 2020 attests to this. Post-pandemic, omni-channel has become essential rather than optional in the retail sector, particularly in the fashion industry. The core of omni-channel lies in integrating the brand experiences that cannot be fulfilled online with the disconnected data from offline stores. AfterCompany plans to quickly dominate this market by leveraging its rapid execution and years of accumulated domain experience.

Currently, the Aft service focuses on meeting the data integration and linkage needs of brands that have grown online and are expanding offline. A representative customer case involves seamlessly integrating product, inventory, and customer membership data between their online stores (Cafe24, Shopify, etc.) and offline store POS, enabling comprehensive brand management.

Aft service is recognized for providing an excellent solution to the system integration challenges faced by retail brands, which have become essential due to digital transformation and tech-based growth accelerated by COVID-19. By the second half of 2024, Aft plans to expand beyond basic online/offline integrated operations management to include CRM services that provide key insights and integrated customer management across customer, product, and inventory categories, becoming a strategic tool for retail brands.

Over the next three years, AfterCompany aims to establish a flexible server infrastructure based on MSA (Micro Service Architecture) and to experiment with a solid business roadmap. This roadmap includes API integration centers with external systems and the establishment of proprietary online stores, meeting the omni-channel needs of not only small to medium-sized retailers but also larger brands.

CEO Park Jae-yeon of AfterCompany expressed the ambition to innovate the entire retail industry, which has been stagnant, alongside the dynamic domestic retail systems. He noted that this investment brings the company a step closer to realizing this vision.