South Korea’s e-commerce giant Coupang files for IPO

South Korea’s e-commerce giant Coupang Corp. has filed for an initial public offering in the U.S. This IPO could help the company raise billions of dollars.

Coupang Corp. experienced a surge in net revenue in 2020 to around US$ 12 billion, almost double the US$ 6.3 billion it earned in 2019. This helped Coupang to narrow its losses to a net US$ 474.9 million in 2020, from a loss of about US$ 699 million the year before.

With this IPO the company’s valuation could exceed US$ 30 billion and the offering may come in the second quarter of 2021. Coupang will offer shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker CPNG. It plans to sell its shares via Citigroup Inc., HSBC Holdings Plc, Deutsche Bank AG, UBS Group AG, Mizuho Financial Group CLSA, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Allen & Co., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp.,

About Coupang

Founded in 2010 by Bom Kim (CEO), Coupang offers an e-commerce platform to its customers that is powered by innovative technology and operations. It places customers first, offering them the best prices and product selection through a convenient and personalized shopping environment. It was also named one of the “50 Smartest Companies in the World” by MIT Technology Review and “30 Global Game Changers” by Forbes. Coupang is a global company headquartered in Seoul and with offices in Beijing, Los Angeles, Seattle, Shanghai and the Silicon Valley.

Coupang has managed to grow faster than the e-commerce market expected in the face of fierce competition from retail conglomerates and startups. Coupang has rapidly expanded its delivery and logistics businesses over the years. Also called “Korea’s Amazon,” Coupang has invested in various new business models, including food-delivery service Coupang Eats and streaming service Coupang Play.

SoftBank had invested US$ 1 billion in Coupang in 2015 and another US$ 2 billion in 2018 through its Vision Fund. This had raised the company’s valuation to about US$ 9 billion. Soft Bank’s stake in Coupang is about 37% overall.South Korea is seeing an IPO surge, with at least one local financial institution forecasting a record year. Apart from Coupang, Krafton Inc., the game publisher behind PUBG, is planning to go public later this year.  According to Euromonitor, South Korea’s e-commerce market is projected to be the third-largest in the world in 2021, largely due to speedy service, dense populations, fast internet connections and competition among family-run conglomerates.

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