Live commerce app Grip posts over $22 mn in transactions

South Korea-based live commerce app Grip saw its cumulative transaction amount surpass 24 billion won ($22.2 million), just two years after its inception, the company said on Jan. 4.

Launched in February 2019, Grip is the country's first live commerce app that offers real-time communication between sellers and buyers.

The platform’s transaction amount rose sharply last year, riding on the flourishing contactless economy which drove small business owners and companies to venture into livestreaming services to sell their products.

Last month, Grip rolled out a new segment, Time Deal, which raised around 180 million won ($166,053) during the 10-minute livestreaming session as viewers rushed for bargains.

In 2020, the company’s monthly transaction volume was 26 times higher than the previous year, with the number of viewers increasing nearly fivefold. As of December 2020, Grip has around 8,200 sellers on its platform, including celebrities and social media influencers.

Domestic platform giants such as Naver Corp. and Kakao Corp. have also forayed into the live commerce sector. Based on the current growth trend, Korea's live commerce market size is expected to reach 8 trillion won ($7.4 billion) by 2023, according to Lina Oh, an analyst at eBEST Investment & Securities Co.


Write to Min-ki Koo at kook@hankyung.com
Danbee Lee edited this article.

Read the full story on Grip and its current snapshot including funding status at KED Global's Future Unicorns