Korean grocery delivery platform Oasis starts IPO process

South Korea’s grocery delivery platform Oasis Corp. filed for preliminary IPO screening to Korea Exchange on Sept. 7. The firm is aiming to list on the secondary bourse Kosdaq in the first half of 2023 with a valuation in the mid-1 trillion won range.

Korea Investment & Securities Co. and NH Investment & Securities Co. have been selected as the lead managers.     

The food delivery platform was initially planning to go public this year. But it had to delay the IPO process due to business expansion and the sluggish public stock market.

Oasis was valued at 1.1 trillion won ($795.7 million) in June when Korean retail giant E-Land Retail Ltd. invested 33 billion won for a 3% stake.

STEADILY IN THE BLACK 

Oasis was founded in August 2011 by former executives of a Korean consumers’ cooperative. The firm had been focused on physical store business until 2018 when it started "dawn delivery service" of fresh food, delivering the food before 7 a.m. if the order is placed before 11 p.m. the previous night, for consumers in Seoul and the capital area.

Oasis is the dawn delivery services provider that most steadily posts profits. Its annual operating profit reached 1 billion won in 2019, 9.7 billion won in 2020 and 5.7 billion won in 2021.

The firm is expected to set a new record this year, including a 7.2 billion won operating profit in the first half.

The grocery delivery platform has secured about 1 million members without big spending on marketing and promotion. The repurchase rate reaches 90%, Oasis said. 

Last year’s transaction is estimated at 400 billion won, compared with peers SSG.COM’s 5.7 trillion won and Kurly Inc.’s 2 trillion won. Oasis’ revenue, transaction and market share could be important variables for its IPO, market watchers say.   

BOLSTERING LOGISTICS, DELIVERY BUSINESSES

In a bid to accelerate its logistics business, Oasis started operation of a new fulfillment center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province in July. The new warehouse handles eight times the capacity of the existing Seongnam-based center and will also cover its partner companies’ logistics.

It is also proactively joining forces with other firms to expand delivery businesses. Oasis and Mesh Korea Co., a logistics service provider, founded a joint venture in July 2021 that later launched quick commerce platform V Mart.

This month, Oasis will start dawn delivery of E-Land Retail products to customers via online shopping website Kim’s Oasis Mall. It will also set up a JV with KT Alpha, an e-commerce platform subsidiary of Korean mobile carrier KT Corp., for quick delivery of products on live commerce.

Oasis’ largest shareholder is tech services provider Gaeasoft, holding 55.17%. Gaeasoft is led by CEO Kim Young-joon, who is Oasis’ founder and chairman. The second largest shareholder is Korea Investment Partners with a 13.32% stake, followed by Unison Capital’s 11.76%.

Write to Seok-Cheol Choi at dolsoi@hankyung.com
Jihyun Kim edited this article.