A tiny K-pop label with 10 million won ($7,000) in starting capital just walked through every stage of Korean startup fundraising, seed, Pre-Series A, Series A, in real time. Market commentator Meru used the girl group RESCENE and its agency, The Muse, to show how the funding ladder actually works.
Startup funding in Korea typically climbs from seed, to Pre-Series A, to Series A, to Series B. Seed money comes in when a company has little more than a prototype or an idea. Pre-Series A is the next round, raised to test whether that prototype actually works in the market, typically hundreds of millions to a billion won in Korea. The Muse was founded in Jeju in December 2020 by three Berklee College of Music alumni, with just 10 million won in capital. In May 2023 it raised its Pre-Series A, under 1 billion won from Smartstudy Ventures and By4M Studio, and used the money to train a five-member girl group. RESCENE, with an average age of 16.6, debuted in March 2024. What came next was harder. None of the group's early albums produced visible traction, in sales or YouTube views. In the second half of 2025, The Muse went after a 5 billion won Series A for a new album and operating costs, but by June 2026 it had raised only 2 billion won, from JB Investment, K-Net Investment Partners and earlier Pre-A backers.
The turn came in May 2026. A personal video from RESCENE's leader Wonyi went viral, pulling older songs back into circulation with it. More than 100 ad inquiries poured in. Rather than keep raising, The Muse closed its Series A at 2 billion won, planning to build a higher valuation before attempting Series B. The numbers show why the stakes are high. 2025 revenue came to 1.77 billion won with a 5.69 billion won operating loss, worse on both counts than 2024's 2.1 billion won in revenue and 200 million won loss. The company's only revenue source is a single group. Meru calls this one-team risk: with no second act in the portfolio, anything that happens to RESCENE shakes the whole company. He points to HYBE, which started as a single-artist bet on BTS before acquiring labels like Source Music and Pledis to diversify, as a model worth studying, adding that The Muse should copy HYBE's strengths, not just imitate it wholesale.
Why it matters · The math behind a single K-pop group shows exactly how startup fundraising actually works in Korea, and how a single viral moment can flip a company from raising money on weak terms to walking away from investors entirely.
Worth asking · Should The Muse cash in now by selling a stake at a higher valuation, or keep betting everything on RESCENE alone?