Anchor invests $210m in Korean grocery player Kurly

The investment values Kurly at KRW4 trillion, the company said. It comes five months after DST Global, Sequoia Capital China, Hillhouse Capital, and Aspex Management led a $200 million Series F at a valuation of $2.2 billion. Kurly was worth $780 million as recently as May 2020 when DST was the solo lead in a $170 million Series E.

Underwriters have already been selected for an IPO scheduled for the first half of 2022. The change in heart regarding the location of listing followed a regulatory change that allows loss-making companies to feature in the benchmark KOSPI if their market capitalization exceeds KRW1 trillion ($874 million).

Broader e-commerce platform Coupang – also Kurly’s biggest competitor – took its $4.5 billion IPO to New York in March, stinging local bourses into action. Coupang achieved a peak private market valuation of $9 billion and now has a market capitalization of approximately $52 billion, although the company currently trades below its IPO price.

Early-morning service is Kurly’s key specialization and differentiator. Within Seoul, the company claims to provide a full cold chain system capable of taking orders made before 11 p.m. and delivering them by 7 a.m. the next day. A partnership with CJ Logistics was announced in April with an initial focus on expanding in the Chungcheong region before going nationwide.

The consumer-facing platform, Market Kurly, is positioned as especially attuned to food trends. A dedicated team for curating unique and rare product lists is featured as part of the offering.

Kurly has 10 million users, of which 2.4 million are monthly active users, Crunchbase reported. It was previously disclosed that sales reached KRW953 billion in 2020, up 124% year-on-year, while the company posted an operating loss of KRW116.2 billion.

Proceeds from the pre-IPO round will go towards improving service technologies and logistics and data infrastructure, as well as adding headcount with a view to targeting new product categories.

Kurly has now raised KRW890 billion since its inception in 2015. Other backers include Millennium Management, CJ Logistics, SK Networks, Translink Capital, Mirae Asset Venture Investment, Capstone Partners, and Korea Investment Partners.

Anchor closed its fourth Korea and North Asia-focused fund with $1.6 billion in commitments in September after approximately five months in the market. The firm's strategy straddles minority and majority deals, ranging from industry consolidation opportunities to growth capital investments.

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• Topics
• North Asia
• Expansion
• Technology
• Consumer
• South Korea
• Anchor Equity Partners
• TMT
• e-commerce