April 17, 2024

• 

[THE INVESTOR] Kurly, a grocery delivery platform operator, on Nov. 5 denied rumors that Korea’s largest mobile messenger operator Kakao is considering acquiring its shares.

According to a local news report, the Korean tech giant currently has had discussions with executives of Kurly to acquire the startup’s shares. 

“Our CEO and officials have not received any proposal from Kakao,” a Market Kurly spokesperson told The Investor. “We constantly hear rumors of large conglomerates like Kakao and Shinsegae trying to acquire our company. But it is not true. Since we secured new funds recently, we have no such plans now.”

The startup successfully closed its Series C round having raised 67 billion won (US $60.03 million) in September.

Kakao plans to spin off its e-commerce unit for further expansion before end-November. It is also currently looking for different measures to strengthen its e-commerce unit and this is one of the reasons why many industry watchers speculated it is one of the possible candidates for acquiring Kurly.

Currently, the turnover of Kakao’s e-commerce unit is only one-seventh of Korean internet giant Naver. Sales of its e-commerce unit reached 2.258 billion won in 2017, while sales of Naver Shopping reached around 2.15 trillion won.

Established in 2014, Market Kurly offers a wide range of groceries and merchandises for delivery by 7 a.m., as long as the orders are placed before 11 p.m. the previous day. The startup’s sales reached more than 46.5 billion won last year. Korean hedge fund Alphen Route Asset Management is the biggest shareholder of the company with 28.2 percent stake, followed by Kurly founder and CEO Sophie Kim who owns 27.9 percent.

By Song Seung-hyun (ssh@heraldcorp.com)