SoftBank-backed Tridge becomes South Korea’s first agriculture unicorn 

South Korea’s agriculture and food trading platform Tridge Co. announced Thursday that it raised 50 billion won ($37.4 million) from DS Asset Management in a Series D round.

At a 3.6 trillion won valuation, the company became the latest billion-dollar startup in SoftBank Group Corp.’s roster of invested startups. The accumulated investment amount hovers around 150 billion won. 

Last year, Forest Partners invested in the agritech startup in a Series C round when the company’s valuation stood at 600 billion won. 

Founded in 2015, Tridge operates an agricultural data platform and fulfillment services with the goal of reducing supply chain inefficiency. 

The startup says it has agricultural data on 150,000 different agricultural products with 50,000 price updates. 

In other words, users can check the price, volume, and market share of the products that Tridge covers. 

The company has secured international wholesale behemoths such as Del Monte Foods, Inc., Walmart Inc., and Carrefour, as well as government entities such as Australia’s Department of Agriculture, and Singapore Food Agency as its clients. 

As for its fulfillment services, Tridge allows users to place orders on its platform, after which it conducts trading services such as contract negotiations and logistics. 

Tridge plans to use the latest injection of funds to expand its presence abroad and launch new verticals. 

The startup raised $5.5 million from SoftBank Ventures Asia in 2019.

Write to Jong-Woo Kim at jongwoo@hankyung.com
Jee Abbey Lee edited this article.