Kurly applies for Korea IPO to raise about $800 mn

South Korea's Kurly Inc. on Monday applied for a preliminary review of its initial public offering, the Korea Exchange said, as the operator of grocery delivery service Market Kurly plans to raise around 1 trillion won ($815 million).

Kurly's listing is expected to take place in the third quarter of this year, about two months behind schedule as it took longer than expected to wrap up its 2021 results, according to market insiders.

The unicorn startup is poised to become the country's first e-commerce platform to go public this year, to be followed by SSG.COM of Shinsegae Group and Oasis Corp.

Kurly's market capitalization is estimated between 4.5 trillion won and 6 trillion won. That compares with its previous valuation of 4 trillion won set in December of last year when it raised 250 billion won in pre-IPO funding.

"The company suggested the 7 trillion won range as its target value. Considering an IPO is priced at a 20-30% discount to the company's proposed value, its market cap will likely come in at 5 trillion to 6 trillion won," said an investment banking source with knowledge of the matter. 

At the estimated valuation, its founder and chief executive Sophie Kim will likely see her minority stake in Kurly swell to the 300 billion won range, joining the ranks of the country's 50 richest female business owners in their 30s by stock value.

Her shareholding in the food delivery app has declined to below 6% from 6.67% early last year on the back of the 250-billion-won fundraising in December.

LOWERED ENTRY BARRIER FOR UNICORN STARTUPS

Kurly is expected to become the country's second unicorn startup to list under loosened IPO guidelines for unicorn startups, after Socar Inc., a car-sharing platform.

Socar is the country's first mobility unicorn, or a private company with a valuation of $1 billion or more. It submitted its IPO application in January of this year. 

After SoftBank-backed Coupang, the country's No. 2 e-commerce player, made a spectacular New York listing in March of last year, the Korea Exchange lowered the barriers to startups' IPOs in the face of criticism of the country losing its promising ventures to bourses overseas. 

Under the new guidelines, even a company in the red can be allowed to go public if it has growth potential and achieves a market capitalization of at least 1 trillion won.

Kurly has accumulated operating losses of about 500 billion won. To protect CEO Kim's management rights against hostile M&A bidders, Kurly will introduce a three-year lockup for new investors.

LACKLUSTER IPO MARKET

Kurly's IPO application comes after a number of companies scrapped their listing plans due to weaker-than-expected investor demand in the lethargic stock market. Hyundai Engineering Co., renewable energy company Daemyung Energy and biotech startup Voronoi Inc. are among the companies to have recently withdrawn IPO plans.

Lowered valuations on Kurly's peer platforms, including New York-listed Coupang, may put a dent in the upcoming IPOs of the country's e-commerce platforms.

"Platform companies' share prices have declined across the board and the IPO market bubble is bursting," said a domestic brokerage company official. 

"Under such circumstances, I'm wondering if Kurly, specializing in fresh produce delivery, can be valued at a similar level to general delivery platforms."

For business diversification, Kurly acquired a women's career management  platform in January of this year, which the company plans to expand into a career consulting business.

In 2021, Kurly's revenue jumped 63.8% on-year to 1.6 trillion won, while its operating losses nearly doubled to 217.7 billion won.

Write to Ye-Jin Jun at ace@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article.