K-beauty tech company APR surpassed 1.5 trillion won ($1 billion) in annual revenue in 2025. Fourth-quarter revenue also exceeded 500 billion won, marking record highs for both yearly and quarterly performance since the company’s founding in 2014.
The company’s 2025 revenue was provisionally tallied at 1.53 trillion won, and an operating profit of 365.4 billion won, up 111 percent and 198 percent, respectively, according to APR on Wednesday. Fourth-quarter revenue reached 547.6 billion won while operating profit totaled 130.1 billion won on a consolidated basis, marking the first time quarterly revenue topped 500 billion won.
Growth was driven by the cosmetics and beauty segment, as well as the beauty device segment. The cosmetics segment generated 412.8 billion won in revenue in the fourth quarter alone, up 255 percent on year.
“Last year’s revenue for the beauty brand Medicube is estimated at 1.4 trillion won, up around 145 percent from a year earlier,” said APR vice president Shin Jae-ha, during a conference call. “This is expected to be the highest single-brand revenue among domestic beauty brands.”
A major factor behind the record performance was growth in overseas markets. The company entered multiple offline channels last April, including Ulta Beauty, one of the largest cosmetics chains in the United States, and Don Quijote, a large Japanese discount retail franchise. In fact, overseas revenue last year reached 1.2 trillion won, up 207 percent from 399.8 billion won a year earlier. Overseas sales accounted for about 40 percent of total revenue in 2023, 55 percent in 2024 and 80 percent last year.
The expansion of overseas sales also reshaped the regional revenue mix. The United States accounted for 22 percent of sales by region in 2024, rising to 37 percent last year, ranking first among regions in terms of revenue.
![Visitors try out new Medicube beauty devices at the company's booth in CES 2026 held in Las Vegas, on Jan. 6, 2026. [JOONGANG ILBO]](https://www.vitaminrush.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/5d61221b-8a1a-476b-bcd1-18cc5a2210d8.jpg)
Visitors try out new Medicube beauty devices at the company’s booth in CES 2026 held in Las Vegas, on Jan. 6, 2026. [JOONGANG ILBO]
Beauty device revenue totaled 122.9 billion won in the fourth quarter, up 18.8 percent from 103.4 billion won a year earlier. The segment’s share of total revenue declined from 42.3 percent to 22.4 percent over the same period.
“In Europe, the United States and other countries where beauty device promotions were concentrated in the fourth quarter, the sales contribution was not particularly high,” Shin said. “In the device segment, we are considering energy-based aesthetic medical devices, or EBDs, as a mid- to long-term growth engine. We are also aiming for domestic regulatory approval and product launches in the second half of this year.”
APR set an annual revenue of 2 trillion won for this year on the back of expanded global market share.
“We expect to post solid sales again this year in global markets such as the United States, Europe and Japan,” Shin said. “In the United States, we are scheduled to enter large offline distribution channels in addition to Ulta Beauty from the end of the first half of the year, and in Japan, our goal is to increase regional sales by around 100 billion won through new beauty device products and region-specific marketing.”
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY NOH YU-RIM [[email protected]]
