Online retailer Pinkoi.com yesterday unveiled a project to invest in more than 10 local brands in a bid to capture the nation’s rapidly expanding creative industry.
The investments are to be made via a new fund set up by Cherubic Ventures Co (心元), which has invested in Pinkoi.
The Taipei-based start-up that specializes in the sale of original design goods is one of the largest e-commerce platforms in Taiwan, and has expanded its reach across Asia to include Japan, China, Hong Kong and Thailand.
“The creative industry makes up 4.8 percent of Taiwan’s GDP, which accounts for 10 percent of the market in Asia,” Pinkoi CEO and founder Peter Yen (顏君庭) said.
Local brands often struggle to reach a bigger audience, so the company provides them a stage to better show off their designs and to sell internationally, Yen said.
The company in 2013 reported revenue of US$2.5 million, but has not disclosed its revenue since.
“Local governments are investing and encouraging growth in the creative industry as we realize its strong cultural influence and business potential,” said Chen Yue-yi (陳悅宜), director of the Ministry of Culture’s Department of Cultural and Creative Development.
The South Korean creative industry in 2017 recorded an output value of NT$3.3 trillion (US$107 billion), compared with NT$834 billion in Taiwan, Chen said.
The creative industry is now a booming sector in the global economy, Pinkoi said, citing a report by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
The value of creative goods globally has doubled from US$208 billion in 2002 to US$509 billion in 2015, with an annual compound growth rate of more than 7 percent, the report said.
Asia alone contributed US$228 billion, representing almost half of the overall value of creative goods worldwide — double that of Europe, data showed.
Taiwan, China, Singapore, India and Thailand were among the top 10 best-performing markets in terms of trade, the report said.
“The creative economy has both commercial and cultural worth,” UNCTAD Division on International Trade and Commodities Director Pamela Coke-Hamilton said. “This dual value has led governments worldwide to focus on expanding and developing their creative economies as part of economic diversification strategies and efforts to stimulate prosperity and well-being.”
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