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market curly (curly) |
Kurly, the operator of fresh food delivery platform Market Kurly, once considered one of South Korea’s most successful startups, has lost momentum on signs of waning investor appetite for the loss-making company. I’m here.
Carly officially canceled his long-awaited market debut on the national benchmark Kospi on Thursday “for the time being.”
“Given the worsening investor sentiment amid the global recession, we have decided to postpone our listing on the Korea Exchange,” the statement said, referring to South Korea’s only stock exchange operator.
“We will push for a listing again at the best possible time for Carly to receive a fair valuation in the future,” the company said.
Kurly’s share price has fallen on over-the-counter platforms due to the postponement of its initial public offering.
Kali closed Thursday at 21,000 won ($16.50), down 8,500 won from the day before, according to the Seoul Exchange, which connects buyers and sellers of privately held shares.
It could even lose its unicorn status.
Kurly raised KRW 250 billion in pre-IPO funding in December 2021, garnering a valuation of KRW 4 trillion amid a boom in new listings. Some even put the startup worth up to 7 trillion won.
Kurly passed the IPO final screening in August of last year. The Korea Stock Exchange requires a company to submit a listing application within six months after passing the examination, so if it chooses another listing in the future, it must go through the examination process again.
Carly’s operating loss last year was 217.7 billion won, up 87.2% from the previous year’s 116.3 billion won.
Despite the loss, Kurly is working to diversify its portfolio. In November, we launched “Beauty Curly,” a cosmetics delivery platform, to expand our business.
In the first half of this year, the company plans to build distribution centers in Changwon, Gyeongsangnam-do and Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi-do to expand early morning deliveries nationwide.
Currently, the platform’s early morning delivery service is limited to the Seoul metropolitan area and Chungcheong Nambuk-do.
Meanwhile, another online grocery delivery platform, Oasis Market, said it would pursue an IPO plan. The startup he passed preliminary IPO approval in December. If all goes according to plan, Oasis Market will become the first early morning delivery service platform to be listed on the local stock market.
Lim Eunbiel (silverstar@heraldcorp.com)
