URBAN BREAK

What URBAN BREAK does

URBAN BREAK is a Seoul-based festival and artist IP platform operated by URBAN COMPLEX Corp. Founded in 2020, the company produces an annual contemporary and street art festival — URBAN BREAK — held at COEX Hall D in Seoul, with the 2026 edition (July 30 – August 2) running jointly with TOYCON SEOUL as the largest edition to date. Each edition curates 100+ artists from 13 countries and combines live painting, performances, and direct audience-artist interaction under the 'PLAY WITH ARTIST' theme. Tickets are sold exclusively through NAVER Booking and KAKAO Booking, the two dominant Korean consumer ticketing platforms.

Beyond the festival, URBAN BREAK operates two structured revenue and programming arms. URBK LAB is a Global Artist IP Agency offering management, consulting, collaboration, exhibition support, IP expansion, and global networking for its managed artist roster year-round. ART FOR TOMORROW is the sustainability/cultural impact arm that produces recurring artist-corporate collaborations (Green Art Poster Campaign 2022; Create endangered species with AI 2023; Dance with Animals and Panorama Dance 2024; Beautiful People Beautiful City with AmorePacific 2025), with corporate booth participation priced from KRW 20 million on multi-year contracts. Government backing from five Korean ministries and agencies (Ministry of Culture/Sports/Tourism, Ministry of Science/ICT, Arts Council Korea, KOCCA, Korea Arts Management Service) provides institutional legitimacy and grant access. Technology is used experientially rather than as a core moat — AR integration is provided by the third-party Artivive app, and AI has appeared only as thematic exhibition content. The company is led by CEO Jan Won Cheol, operates with 1-10 employees, and has been funded primarily through non-dilutive Korean public programs (TIPS, Gyeonggi Creative Economy Innovation Center) rather than venture capital.

Name

URBAN BREAK

Legal name

URBAN COMPLEX Corp

Website

https://urbanbreak.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

URBAN BREAK is a Seoul-based annual street and contemporary art festival organizer operating through URBAN COMPLEX Corp, curating 100+ artists from 13 countries at COEX Hall D and running the year-round URBK LAB artist IP agency and ART FOR TOMORROW corporate collaboration program.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Yongsan

HQ country

South Korea

HQ region

Asia

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Event Ticketing: Ticket sales for the annual festival through third-party platforms (NAVER Booking, KAKAO). Tickets are available for the URBAN BREAK 2026 event at COEX Hall D in Seoul.
2. Art for Tomorrow Corporate Sponsorship: Companies participate in exhibition booths through Art for Tomorrow program, selecting artists for collaboration and providing sponsorship. Participation booth starts at KRW 20 million (negotiable, VAT excluded).
3. TOYCON SEOUL Integration: Joint hosting with TOYCON SEOUL creates cross-promotional revenue opportunities through combined festival attendance and expanded merchandise/sponsorship packages.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

URBAN BREAK organizes an annual contemporary art and street culture festival at COEX Hall D in Seoul, Korea, connecting global artists with audiences through live painting, performances, and direct interaction. The platform is supported by URBK LAB, a global artist IP agency that manages artists' creative activities and brand collaborations, and ART FOR TOMORROW, a sustainability arm facilitating artist-corporate partnerships on environmental and social themes.

Product overview

URBAN BREAK is an artist festival platform offering a portfolio of interconnected products and services centered on street culture, visual art, and artist IP development. The core offering is the annual URBAN BREAK Festival, a major contemporary art event held in Seoul, Korea. Supporting the festival is URBK LAB, a Global Artist IP Agency that provides artist management, career support, and brand collaboration services. ART FOR TOMORROW is the sustainability and social impact arm that facilitates artist-corporate collaborations focused on environmental and social themes. The 2026 edition introduces an integrated format with TOYCON SEOUL, expanding the festival's scope to include collectibles and artist content. The platform also offers curated artist programs, special exhibitions (URBK SHOWCASE, Guest of Honor, Friends Project), and ticket sales through partner channels.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• URBAN BREAK Festival Annual contemporary art festival celebrating street culture, design, and visual art, connecting global artists and audiences through live painting, performances, immersive content, and direct interaction beyond traditional exhibition boundaries.
• URBK LAB Global Artist IP Agency offering management and consulting, brand collaboration opportunities, exhibition and career support, IP expansion, and global networking for managed artists.
• ART FOR TOMORROW Art sustainability project creating collaborative programs between artists and corporations addressing climate crisis, environmental protection, peace, and coexistence. Booth participation starts at KRW 20 million with one-year contract to support artist growth.
• Global Artist Curation Curated artist roster and program bringing together more than 100 global artists annually through Open Call, URBK Lab, and Invited Artists channels spanning illustration, painting, murals, sculpture, digital media, tattoos, and subcultures.

Quantifiable outcome

• 46-meter mural created for SUNTORY PARK CAFE at 2025 Expo Osaka Kansai
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• URBAN COMPLEX CorpcoreOthers · 1 January 2026Parent company and co-organizer of URBAN BREAK. Urban Complex is an innovative platform specializing in building digital artist IP, connecting creators and brands to jointly create cultural impact. URBK LAB is a global artist IP agency created by URBAN BREAK.
• TOYCON SEOULcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerURBAN BREAK and TOYCON SEOUL are jointly hosting the 2026 edition as an integrated festival. This is the first time the two events come together, creating the biggest edition yet with expanded global participation and larger scale special exhibitions.
• Ministry of Culture, Sports and TourismminorOthersGovernment ministry providing institutional support and endorsement for the festival.
• Ministry of Science and ICTminorOthersGovernment ministry supporting technology and digital arts aspects of the festival.
• Arts Council KoreaminorOthersArts council providing cultural funding and institutional backing for the arts festival.
• Korea Creative Content AgencyminorOthersGovernment agency supporting creative content industry and festival programming.
• Korea Arts Management ServiceminorOthersGovernment service providing arts management and operational support.
• DEV sistersminorGTM or Marketing PartnerContents partner for the festival, contributing content and promotional support.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• ComplexCon: ComplexCon is a U.S.-based annual festival blending streetwear, art, music, and collectibles — the closest analogue to URBAN BREAK's street-culture-meets-contemporary-art positioning, including the toy/collectible layer that URBAN BREAK now adds via the TOYCON integration.
• Beyond the Streets: Beyond the Streets is a curated street-art and graffiti exhibition/festival featuring global artists, large-scale murals, and brand collaborations — directly comparable to URBAN BREAK's programming model and artist curation approach.
• POW! WOW!: POW! WOW! is an international street-art festival series producing mural projects and exhibitions across multiple cities, closely aligned with URBAN BREAK's model of curating global street artists and executing large-scale mural commissions for brands.
• TOYCON (Korea): TOYCON Seoul is a designer-toy and collectible convention that URBAN BREAK has formally integrated with for 2026 — direct overlap on collectible/art-toy programming, audience, and Korean cultural-event ecosystem.
• DesignerCon: DesignerCon is a U.S. convention uniting art, designer toys, and collectibles — directly comparable to URBAN BREAK's TOYCON-integrated programming, with similar artist-meets-toy IP and corporate sponsor profiles.
• Moniker Art Fair: Moniker is an international art fair focused on urban, street, and new contemporary art — directly comparable niche positioning to URBAN BREAK, with overlapping artist community and curator-led programming model.

Broad incumbents

• Art Basel: Art Basel operates the global benchmark art fair circuit (Basel, Miami Beach, Hong Kong) — overlapping with URBAN BREAK in contemporary-art curation and brand sponsorship economics, but at a much larger scale and more institutional/gallery-led.
• Frieze: Frieze runs a portfolio of international art fairs (London, New York, Los Angeles, Seoul) — overlapping with URBAN BREAK in contemporary art and Korean-market presence (Frieze Seoul), but broader and more established.
• SCOPE Art Show: SCOPE is an international contemporary art fair held alongside major art weeks — comparable to URBAN BREAK in featuring emerging and contemporary artists, brand activations, and global-city tour structure, though more traditional in format.

Regional players

• Seoul Design Week: Seoul Design Week is a Korean design and lifestyle festival operating in the same Seoul cultural-events ecosystem as URBAN BREAK, with overlapping B2B sponsorship and government-supporter dynamics but focused on industrial/product design rather than street art.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/urbanbreak_official

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds5 records

Investors3 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about URBAN BREAK