Reversing fortunes two years after debut… A closer look at the structure of Risenne’s agency, The Muse Entertainment, raising a cumulative 6.19 billion won
Date
Aug 19, 2026
Classification
- Investment/Funding
The Muse Entertainment has raised a cumulative investment of 6.19 billion won, of which 5.5 billion won comes from the Fund of Funds. The company's value is expected to be re-evaluated as a song released in August 2024 by Risenne, a group that debuted in March 2024, experiences a resurgence in popularity in 2026. The company plans to close a 2 billion won Series A deal in June 2026, while Risenne remains its only affiliated artist.
It has been confirmed that The Muse Entertainment, the agency of girl group Risenne, has attracted a cumulative 6.19 billion won in venture investment in just over five years since its establishment.
From a corporation registered in Jeju to an office building in Nonhyeon-dong… 90% of the investment came from the parent fund.
The Muse Entertainment was established in December 2020. It was founded by CEO Lee Joo-heon, a former member of the vocal group Hibrow, and started with a structure in which producers from Berklee College of Music in the U.S. handle music production and artist management. The company is registered in Seogwipo-si, Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, but its actual office space is located in the building in Nonhyeon-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul.
The company's financing history is divided into two stages. In May 2023, the company secured a Pre-A round, which followed up with Series A later that same year. With these funds, they leased an office building in Nonhyeon-dong and began preparations for a girl group's debut. Launching a girl group into the market requires concentrated upfront investment prior to revenue generation, covering everything from member training and music production to choreography, music videos, costumes, accommodations, and manager salaries. In effect, the debut itself was structured to depend on attracting investment.
The four fund managers of the government-backed sub-funds that invested in The Muse Entertainment are Smart Study Ventures, K-Net Investment Partners, JB Investment, and Michigan Venture Capital. Of the total investment of 6.19 billion won, the government-backed sub-funds executed 5.5 billion won, with government policy fund affiliates accounting for approximately 90% of the raised capital. The investment funds were used for content production, artist training, and business expansion.
A turning point created by a single YouTube meme… 1 million channel subscribers in just 4 months, and a resurgence.
Risenne debuted on March 26, 2024. Initial performance was poor. Due to low public awareness, it was difficult to even secure opportunities to appear on music shows, and they appeared on a terrestrial music show just once immediately after their debut. Stagnation is also confirmed in financial indicators. Revenue in 2025 decreased by 0.17% compared to the previous year. Citing continuous losses, the company began new funding starting in 2025.
The turning point came from YouTube content. Member Won's personal channel, "Hello, this is Won, nice to meet you," was opened in February 2026. A scene where Japanese member Minami inadvertently greeted viewers by saying "Geoje, yay!" went viral and drew laughter, and this phrase quickly spread as a meme in the form of "OO yay." The channel's producer immediately released a series of follow-up contents highlighting each member's character. Content featuring Won, who is from Geoje, and Jena, who is from Gyeongju, speaking in dialect in Seongsu-dong, as well as content featuring Liv and May appearing as a clumsy duo (Lit and Matt), successively boosted viewership.
The numbers skyrocketed in a short period. The channel surpassed 1 million subscribers around 3:15 PM on June 20. This was achieved approximately four months after the channel was launched in February, a pace that contrasts sharply with the release of the "100,000 Subscriber Q&A" just a month prior. The video "I Asked If You Really Do 'Yaho'," released on June 19, exceeded 2.45 million views within a day of upload, and at the same time, the channel's cumulative views surpassed 155 million. As of August 19, the number of subscribers exceeded 1.8 million, and the average video views rose to between 4 and 5 million, peaking at 12 million.
Channel traffic shifted to digital music performance. The title track "Love Attack" from their first mini-album, released in August 2024, entered the top 10 on domestic music platforms and subsequently added a record of first place on music shows. Following their win on "Show! Music Core," they also took first place on "Inkigayo," achieving a total of six music show wins. Brand indicators moved in tandem. In the August 2026 rookie idol individual brand reputation rankings announced by the Korea Brand Reputation Institute on August 5, Woni ranked first, while Minami ranked 4th, Jena 5th, Liv 6th, and May 7th, with all five members placing within the top 7. In the idol group brand reputation rankings released on August 17, Risenne ranked second following BTS, with their brand reputation index rising by 40.50% compared to July.
The capital market reacted immediately. At this point, The Muse Entertainment completed a Series A investment round worth 2 billion won. Series A funding is raised by companies in the full-scale growth phase after verifying their initial business viability. Previously, in an investment round conducted following the debut of Lisenne in August 2024, the company issued Redeemable Convertible Preferred Stock (RCPS) at an enterprise valuation more than 30% higher than the previous round. The company's valuation has moved in tandem with Lisenne's growth trajectory.
The remaining variables are IP expansion and private funding… The structure dependent on a single artist team remains unchanged.
Despite the achievements, structural challenges remain. The Muse Entertainment's flagship and sole affiliated group is Risenne. This means that revenue and corporate value are linked to the success curve of a single artist. The investment industry believes that the growth potential of an entertainment company depends on the commercial success of its affiliated artists and the potential for expanding its content intellectual property (IP). Risenne's resurgence is seen as an opportunity to confirm the company's artist planning and production capabilities to the market.
There are also challenges regarding the financing structure. Given that the majority of accumulated funding has come from government policy funds, the key factor will be how much private capital can be attracted in the next round. Last July, the company established a foundation for media collaboration after being selected as the first partner for the venture growth support program by JB Investment and EBN Industrial Economy. Expansion into overseas markets is also underway. Lisenne is expanding its fandom and content business base in overseas markets, including Japan, by continuing to release music in Japanese and enter local charts. The company relocated its headquarters in July 2026 after securing new investment.
The case of The Muse Entertainment is an instance where the company's value was reassessed as content released two years prior belatedly garnered a market response. In that the company sustained itself through a revenue-free period relying on venture capital before achieving results, it illustrates the financing methods of content and IP companies characterized by a long time lag between product launch and market validation. However, the two challenges of over-reliance on a single artist and concentration on government funding are expected to remain subject to scrutiny in the next round.
#TheMuseEntertainment #Ricenne #SeriesA #MotherFund #ContentIP
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