For this Tech Chat from our 2021 Silicon Dragon CES Event, our featured panelists were Jeffrey Lee, Managing Director at Northern Light Venture Capital in Silicon Valley, and Jihong Lee, Founder and CEO of Picky, a newly funded digital skincare community company. This conversation with a founder and VC touched on the emerging opportunities for a connected global world, the growing K-Beauty industry, and if Covid-19 can be a tailwind.
Hyper-Connected World
Northern Light Venture Capital has a focus on China with
roots in Silicon Valley. Learning from experience investing in China and
Silicon Valley, the firm sees a great opportunity emerging of a hyperconnected
world where big ideas and execution can happen from anywhere, not just the
well-known hubs like Silicon Valley. Northern Light is moving to execute on
this premise, and one of its concentrations is in Korea. That’s where new
portfolio company Picky factors in.
Global to The Bone
When asked why Northern Light Venture Capital invested $1.3
million in Picky, Jeffrey gushed about how Jihong is part of a new exciting
generation of entrepreneurs who are globally connected. Jeffrey cited Jihong’s
experience expanding Supercell’s business in Asia, as well as his time with
Google in the U.S. to illustrate Jihong’s ability to be successful around the
world.
Social Norms
When asked if being a male CEO in the beauty industry was
strange, Jihong noted the tremendous pressure for Korean men to maintain a
rigorous skincare routine for perfect skin. He added there is friction of
actually being able to find the right products. Picky is working to build a
community based around discussions and reviews of brands and products to break
through the friction in hopes that the K-Beauty market will explode with
growth. This is part of a trend that Jihong sees of influence going from east
to west, rather than west to east like in the past. New generations see beauty
and skincare regimens as an expression of themselves, and Picky is confident
the startup can capitalize on these trends.
Content is King
Tailwinds Post Covid-19
Before the onset of Covid-19, it was traditional for a
beauty shopper to go into a store to get advice to help them make their choice.
Now, going inside a store to have someone in close proximity to your face is a
rare and even dangerous endeavor. Picky is benefiting from this move out of brick-and-mortar
stores and is welcoming users into their digital community. This trend won’t be
reversing anytime soon, and Picky is well-positioned towards Jihong and
Jeffrey’s goals of becoming a global player in the massive beauty industry.
Bios:
Jeffrey Lee is the
Managing Director and Co-Founder at Northern Light Venture Capital, an early-stage
focused firm operating for over 15 years with six funds and over 200 portfolio
companies. The firm is a China concept fund with roots in Silicon Valley. It invests
in IT, consumer services, clean tech and health care.
Prior to founding Northern Light, Jeffrey was a General
Partner and Co-Founder at Newton Technology Partners (a technology focused
venture firm in Korea that backed 18 companies). One of those companies was
Wavics, an RFIC company where Lee served as the Director of Business
Development.
Lee is a member of several boards, including Habitat for
Humanity San Francisco, the Harvard College Fund, and BSPK, a digital
marketplace for luxury products, backed by Northern Light.
Lee holds an AB in Economics from Harvard University and an
MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Jihong Lee is the
Founder and CEO of Picky, a company building a digital community for
discovering and interacting with beauty brands, tailored to the individual.
Prior to founding Picky, Lee was the second employee at
Supercell’s Seoul office (Supercell is an extremely popular mobile gaming
company and part of the Tencent family). He was also the Mobile Apps
Monetization Lead at Google.
Lee holds a BA in Business Administration from Seoul
National University.
Summary by Silicon Dragon
Global contributor Michael Weiss
