Cheil Worldwide Makes Investment in HIVELAB

Cheil Worldwide president and CEO Jeongkeun Yoo (left) and HIVELAB CEO and founder Jong Hyeok Seo

Cheil Worldwide signed an investment agreement with HIVELAB, a digital convergence company in South Korea, to strengthen the company’s digital marketing capabilities.

Founded in 2012, HIVELAB has diverse digital marketing capabilities from digital platform building, and digital content creation to brand marketing. HIVELAB has operations in South Korea and Vietnam, and 86% of its 250 employees are technical professionals.

Cheil Worldwide and HIVELAB have collaborated since 2015, working on projects such as Samsung Electronics’ Samsung.com. HIVELAB serves around 260 clients globally, including NHN, Netmarble, and Kakao Games. The company recorded sales of KRW 18 billion in 2020, and its annual average sales growth rate (CAGR) over the past four years has been approximately 24 percent.

Korean Ministry of Employment and Labour selected HIVELAB as small hidden champion for four years in a row since 2017, recognizing its growth potential and excellence in working conditions. The company acquired the best human resources development organisation certificate from Korean Ministry of Education, and won iF DESIGN AWARD in 2018.

Through this investment, Cheil Worldwide obtains access to HIVELAB’s powerful digital convergence capability, empowering the company with the capacity to offer enhanced services to its clients while propelling digital transformation in areas including exhibitions, events, and retail marketing.

Moreover, Cheil Worldwide will collaborate with HIVELAB in new business development such as advancing e-commerce marketing for clients across the globe through combining HIVELAB’s competency in digital platform building and digital content creation with Cheil Worldwide’s global network. Interchange of technology and information and collaboration between the two companies will further augment Cheil Worldwide’s digital tech expertise.

“Through this investment, we will offer differentiated digital marketing services by forging collaboration with HIVELAB, and continue to pursue new strategic investment opportunities to broaden our digital business,” said Cheil Worldwide representative.