MBX YC Application

Winter 2014Active

MBX went through Y Combinator in the Winter 2014 batch as a Consumer company. Below: what the company does, who founded it, and its application to YC, reconstructed question by question in the real YC form.

YC batch: Winter 2014
Industry: ConsumerApparel and Cosmetics
Team size: 150
Status: Active
Launched: 2013

Founders

Hyungseok (Dino) HaFounder/CEO

What MBX does

MBX (formerly Memebox) is a multi-brand beauty and personal care startup headquartered in San Francisco. The venture-backed company has raised over $190M in funding from prominent investors, including Formation 8 & Group, Goodwater Capital, Johnson & Johnson, Pear VC, Y Combinator, and other Silicon Valley VCs. Memebox operates a portfolio of beauty and personal care brands that are co-developed with strategic partners like Sephora and Ulta, using data-driven insights to identify white space opportunities in the market. The company’s products are made in Korea, leveraging the latest K-beauty innovations in the formula, packaging, and speed-to-market. MBX has offices in San Francisco, Seoul, Shanghai, and Taipei, and its brands include Kaja, I Dew Care, Pony Effect, I’m Meme, and Nooni.

MBX's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

MBX, Winter 2014 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

MBX

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

Global multi-brand beauty and personal care startup

What is your company going to make? Please describe your product and what it does or will do.

We build and operate an e-commerce platform that curates and sells K-beauty and personal care products through multiple owned brands like Kaja and Pony Effect. Our platform uses data from customers and market trends to develop new products with partners such as Sephora and Ulta, focusing on gaps in the market and moving quickly from concept to shelf.

Where do you live now, and where would the company be based after YC?

We live in San Francisco, CA and the company is based here, with additional offices in Seoul, Shanghai, and Taipei.

Explain your decision regarding location.

San Francisco is the heart of tech innovation and venture capital, which helps us grow technology and partnerships with US retailers. We maintain offices in Asia to stay close to product development and manufacturing in Korea and other key markets.

21 more answers in the full application

Founders, Progress, Idea, Equity, Curious, Batch Preference are in the full version. Create a free account to open it in YC Insights, next to every other YC batch.

See full application

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this the real MBX YC application?

No. Y Combinator keeps submitted applications private. This is a reconstruction: the real YC form questions, answered from MBX's public data (launch notes, founder backgrounds, product description). It shows how a company like MBX would present itself to YC, not the text they submitted.