CreatripTeam

APR, a beauty-tech company known for its Mediqueve (메디큐브) devices, has surged to the top spot in K-beauty market capitalization at about ₩9.5 trillion, surpassing longtime leaders AmorePacific and LG Household & Health Care. Investors are valuing APR’s innovation and global expansion potential, despite its 2023 revenue (₩523.8 billion) still trailing the larger firms. LG H&H (₩6.8 trillion) and AmorePacific (₩4.0 trillion) remain dominant in sales due to diversified portfolios and strong brands, while ODM (original design manufacturer) players Cosmax and Kolmar support the industry backbone. The story highlights a growing gap between market expectations of future growth (market cap) and current scale (revenue), suggesting K-beauty’s future leadership will depend on who can combine “innovation” with “scale.”