MODEPICK Raises Seed Funding to Scale AI-Driven Cross-Border Purchase Agency Platform

South Korean overseas purchase-agency startup MODEPICK has secured seed funding from Kakao Ventures and Ewha Technology Holdings.

MODEPICK operates an AI agent-based cross-border commerce platform that sources premium fashion items and limited-edition goods not officially available in Korea, connecting them directly with domestic consumers. The company only ships products that have been purchased and inspected in person by local buyers, and provides authentic receipts and invoices throughout the buying process for full transparency. Its AI agent automatically matches product data with receipts to generate customs documentation from the outset, allowing customers to receive items in as little as two to three days after they ship from overseas. Compared with conventional purchase-agency services, MODEPICK has cut shipping costs by up to 65% and delivery times by up to 80%.

Consumers who rely on overseas direct purchases have long had to contend with delays at forwarding warehouses, additional payments, unpredictable customs holdups, and the risk of counterfeit goods. Sellers have faced their own inefficiencies, manually handling everything from sourcing and inventory management to local purchasing, customs clearance, international shipping, and customer service — a process that becomes less efficient as order volume grows. Differences in language, regulations, and shipping variables across countries have made the market notoriously difficult to standardize or automate.

MODEPICK addresses this by automating the entire purchase-agency process with AI agents, improving both the consumer experience and internal operating efficiency. The platform connects every stage — from order collection to customs document generation and shipment tracking — into a single system, integrating data across 12 platforms, Korea’s customs authority, and logistics companies to handle customer service automatically as well. Beyond predicting shipping costs and tariffs and automating customs procedures, the platform includes a risk-detection feature that uses AI to flag fraudulent sites, counterfeit products, abnormal pricing, customs restrictions, and potential shipping delays in advance. The result is a faster, safer shopping experience for consumers and a structure that lets MODEPICK absorb rising order volumes without added operational burden. The company currently sells across 14 channels, including Naver Smart Store, Hyundai Home Shopping, and SSG.com, and has surpassed about USD 7.2 million(KRW 10 billion) in cumulative sales.

In the second half of this year, MODEPICK plans to launch a “globally autonomous AI commerce operations” platform that will let AI agents independently handle — and continuously improve — the full range of commerce operations, including product sourcing, listing, marketing banner management, customer service, CRM, customs document generation, and shipment tracking. The company is also moving to expand more directly into distribution. Drawing on three years of accumulated sales data, MODEPICK plans to deliver products consumers want in a timely and reliable manner while gradually broadening its product categories.

MODEPICK’s team is led by CEO Hyunji Ko, who built the company’s revenue by identifying and marketing brands directly to consumers and driving them to purchase, alongside technology specialists who have applied AI to a legacy-heavy industry. Drawing on her background in advertising, Ko has maintained an average return on ad spend of 1,800% at MODEPICK. With an operations team of just four people, the company aims to embed the know-how behind its about USD 7.2 million(KRW 10 billion) in cumulative sales into its AI agents, enabling sustainable growth with minimal headcount.

“The MODEPICK team combines exceptional marketing capability with strong operational efficiency in a notoriously labor-intensive purchase-agency market,” said Hyewon Ahn, senior investment manager at Kakao Ventures. “Despite being an early-stage company, MODEPICK has already proven its fundamentals, and we look forward to the cross-border market it will open up going forward.”

“We want to go beyond simply automating complex purchase-agency operations with AI and build a service where customers can feel real, tangible benefits,” said Hyunji Ko, CEO of MODEPICK. “We’re building a platform that removes all the worries from shopping, so that anyone can easily and confidently buy what they want without being limited by borders.”