Veluga Brewery
2 known investors
Find your way into Veluga Brewery
Veluga Brewery is a South Korean craft beer subscription service. Members receive a monthly box of curated handcrafted beers organized around a theme, along with suggested food pairings.
Also known as Veluga · Veluga Brewery Inc.
Founders & leadership
Investors · 2
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Veluga Brewery Inc. is a Seoul-based South Korean company founded in 2017. It began by operating a craft beer subscription box service, delivering a box containing four bottles of beer plus food to subscribers every two weeks, with each edition pairing newly selected craft beers with snacks developed or matched for them. After regulatory action by Korea's National Tax Service, the company exited the beer subscription box business and pivoted toward services that help beer importers reduce costs.
The company now operates an alcoholic beverage retail and wholesale platform that aggregates data across the Korean liquor supply chain, from spirit production and import through wholesale and retail. Using clients' order and purchasing records, Veluga provides demand forecasting data, target marketing and order management services. The platform is offered as a software-as-a-service subscription, giving end users sales lead data segmented by gender, age, commercial district, liquor type and brand product for use in demand projection and customized marketing campaigns. In 2023 the company partnered with HL Holdings Corp. to launch TIDES, an online alcoholic drink fulfillment service covering just-in-time demand forecasting, separated or consolidated shipping, inventory management software, and cold-chain storage and delivery.
Founding story
Veluga Brewery was founded in 2017. Co-founder and CEO Kim Sang-min launched the beer subscription box in April 2017 after a National Tax Service revision permitted online sales of alcoholic beverages when sold together with food. Kim has described developing an interest in beer while being raised in St. Louis, Missouri.
Business model
Veluga operates a B2B liquor wholesale and distribution platform sold on a SaaS subscription basis to retail stores, suppliers and wholesalers, layered with logistics/fulfillment services delivered through a partner-operated cold-chain center. Its earlier model was a direct-to-consumer subscription box of craft beer and paired snacks delivered on a recurring schedule.
Subscription fees for software-as-a-service access to demand forecasting, target marketing and order management tools for liquor supply-chain participants; previously consumer subscription fees for periodic beer-and-food boxes.
Traction
As of May 2023 the platform was used by about 10,000 retail stores, more than 300 suppliers and over 400 wholesalers across Korea. The earlier beer subscription box service had as many as 50,000 end users at the time of its 2019 shutdown.
Latest developments
In May 2023 Veluga Brewery and HL Holdings Corp. announced TIDES, a smart alcoholic drink fulfillment service planned for launch in the third quarter of 2023, under which HL Holdings converts its 102,574-square-meter Dongtan cold-chain center into a liquor fulfillment center managed and operated by Veluga's software, shipping directly to retail stores that order through Veluga's platform.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
Positioned as a startup pioneering a liquor wholesale platform in Korea, in a distribution market described as still reliant on an outdated order and delivery system and dominated by a handful of local logistics companies that forward orders to wholesalers. TIDES is described as the first online alcoholic drink fulfillment service of its kind in Korea, operating from what is characterized as Asia's largest cold-chain center.
Combines proprietary supply-chain data spanning production, import, wholesale and retail with demand forecasting and shipping optimization, and pairs the software with cold-chain fulfillment capacity supplied by a large logistics partner, aiming at reducing import costs and overstocking in the craft beer distribution market.
Technology
Software for demand forecasting and shipping optimization built on order and purchasing data collected across the liquor supply chain, plus inventory management tools and a SaaS analytics layer producing sales lead data segmented by gender, age, commercial district, liquor type and brand product. Veluga's software is used to manage and operate the converted cold-chain liquor fulfillment center.
Go-to-market
Direct platform adoption by retailers, suppliers and wholesalers combined with corporate partnerships — with CJ CheilJedang for the compliant food-and-beer box, and with logistics group HL Holdings for fulfillment infrastructure.
Liquor retail stores, suppliers, wholesalers and importers in South Korea; previously individual consumers subscribing to craft beer and snack boxes.
Geography
Headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, with platform users across Korea and fulfillment operations based at HL Holdings' cold-chain logistics center in Dongtan, Hwaseong-si, Gyeonggi Province.
History
The beer subscription box launched in April 2017. A July 2017 revision to the rules required the alcoholic drink to be a supplementary component of the box, and Veluga's service was indefinitely suspended that month over selling beer with dry snacks. The company then partnered with CJ CheilJedang so that boxes consisted of food with supplementary beer, allowing it to resume. From 2018 it worked with the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Seoul Metropolitan Government to clarify gray areas in the tax agency's public notice. In June 2019 the National Tax Service summoned company representatives and three weeks later issued notice of fines for breaching rules on receiving online subscription fees from multiple end users for regular beer delivery. Veluga subsequently exited the beer box business and pivoted to helping beer importers reduce costs, later building a liquor wholesale and retail data platform. In May 2023 it announced the TIDES fulfillment service with HL Holdings.
Risks & controversies
The company's original beer subscription box business was halted by South Korean regulators: it was suspended in July 2017 under revised rules requiring alcohol to be a supplementary item, and in 2019 the National Tax Service issued a notice of fines for accepting online subscription fees from multiple end users for recurring beer delivery, leading Veluga to exit the business. Founders publicly criticized the agency for prior verbal-only approval, the absence of written guidance, and what they described as preferential treatment of subscription boxes containing traditional liquor.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Timeline · 6
launches, deals, and filingsVeluga Brewery and HL Holdings Corp. announced plans to launch TIDES, described as Korea's first online alcoholic drink fulfillment service, in Q3 2023. HL Holdings converts its 102,574 sq m Dongtan (Hwaseong-si) cold-chain logistics center into a liquor fulfillment center managed and operated by Veluga's software.
Korea's National Tax Service summoned Veluga representatives in June 2019 and three weeks later delivered notice that the company would be subject to fines for breaching rules banning collection of online subscription fees from multiple end users for regular beer delivery.
Veluga Brewery shut down its beer subscription box service in South Korea, affecting as many as 50,000 end users, and pivoted to a business helping beer importers save cost.
Following a July 2017 revision requiring alcohol to be a supplementary component of a food box, Veluga's beer-and-dry-snack subscription box was subject to indefinite suspension.
Kim Sang-min launched the beer subscription box, delivering four bottles of beer with food to subscribers every two weeks, after a National Tax Service revision allowed online sales of alcoholic beverages sold together with food.
Veluga teamed up with CJ CheilJedang so that boxes were composed of food with 'supplementary' beer bottles, allowing the subscription service to resume under the revised rules.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- veluga brewerysparklabs.co.kr · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Veluga Brewery do?
- South Korean startup operating a liquor wholesale and retail SaaS platform with data-driven demand forecasting for the alcohol supply chain.
- Who founded Veluga Brewery?
- Veluga Brewery was founded by Sangmin Kim.
- Who are Veluga Brewery's investors?
- Veluga Brewery's investors include 500 Global, Kakao Ventures.