먼치팩토리

먼치팩토리 (Munch Factory Co., Ltd.) is a Korean company that operates 아워플레이스 (Hourplace), an online marketplace that intermediates shooting locations for content production. Hosts list everyday spaces — homes, offices, studios and specialty venues — with photographs, and content creators search and reserve them on an hourly basis. The site lets users filter listings by category, region, date, price, instant payment, natural-light information, and availability of equipment, prop rental and other services, and it sets the platform, rather than the host, as the counterparty to the rental contract. Cancellation terms are standardized: full refund for cancellations more than four days before use, no refund within three days, and full refund for cancellations within two hours of payment (excluding same-day cancellations) or when the host cancels.

The platform is used for more than 200 genres of production, including TV broadcast, ATL advertising, film, music videos, e-commerce and brand or product imagery, promotional video, fashion editorials, apparel shopping-mall shoots, interviews, performances, events, competitions, lectures, web dramas, one-person media, YouTube channels and personal portfolios, serving both professional and non-professional creators. Company materials describe a stated goal of enabling anyone to make good content in a good location, and a plan to extend into a direct-to-creator model spanning short-form video, web drama, non-professional content and commerce to become a broader creator-IP platform.

The company is registered as a small or medium-sized joint-stock corporation classified under database and online information provision services, with additional business activities listed as portal and internet information provision, e-commerce, advertising agency and advertising-material production, advertising media sales, and advertising film and video production.

Business model

먼치팩토리 runs a two-sided O2O marketplace: space owners register locations on 아워플레이스 and content creators or companies book them by the hour through the platform, which handles payment, booking confirmation and cancellation/refund policy and acts as the contracting party for the rental, while the host manages the space. Listings can be supplemented with equipment rental, prop rental and other production services, and a loyalty accrual (3% on bookings) is shown at checkout.

Revenue is generated through hourly booking transactions processed on the platform, with listed prices set per hour and minimum booking durations; registered business activities also include advertising agency work, advertising media sales and advertising video production.

Traction

Investor and company materials report growth from over 3,000 registered spaces at an earlier stage to more than 9,000 unique spaces and 94,000 stories created, with 100,000+ creators and 1,000+ companies and brands, and subsequently more than 12,000 spaces, 100,000+ stories, 120,000+ creators and 1,000+ enterprises. Revenue is described as having grown 17x since service launch (through 2022) at a 102% CAGR; reported revenue is about KRW 9.196 billion, and headcount is 17 based on national pension data.

Latest developments

The company states plans to expand into a direct-to-creator platform covering short-form content, web dramas, non-professional content and commerce, with the aim of becoming a comprehensive creator-IP platform.