Kurly, A Korean Online Grocery Store, Raises $210 Million At A $3.3 Billion Valuation Ahead Of Its IPO

Korean online grocery store Kurly has raised $210 million in a pre-IPO round from Hong Kong-based private equity firm Anchor Equity Partners. The recent funding raises the total number of money raised by Kurly to $761 million and values the company at $3.3 billion.

The recent funding round also follows the company’s last Series F round (that saw the participation of DST Global, Sequoia Capital China, Hillhouse Capital, Aspex Management, MiraeAsset Venture Investment, and Korea-based strategic investors CJ Logistics and SK Networks) which was held about six months ago. The company will use the new funds it acquired to continue to provide next-day grocery delivery services across the country as well as invest in new talents, logistics services and data infrastructure.  

The funding round follows the company’s announcement that it was listing locally on the Korean Exchange, shifting from the New York Stock Exchange. As a way of attracting startups, the Korean Exchange has eased listing requirements for startups that are valued above $854 million (the equivalent of 1 trillion won).

Kurly plans on filing an IPO application by early 2022 with the aim of going public by at most the first half of next year. The company expects its estimated valuation to be $5.8 million after its initial public offering (IPO).

According to Kurly spokesperson, it has a total of 10 million users out of which 2.4 percent are monthly active users. The company mentioned that since it started, its sales have surged more than a hundred percent and generated $845 million of sales and $97 million of operating loss in 2020.

It remains the pioneer of next-day food delivery in South Korea. It delivers early in the morning of the next day after orders have been confirmed. The startup, however, faces competitors who have devised other means to thrive. Some of these startups do overnight deliveries, etc.