이 기사는 2021년 03월 16일 08시06분 thebell에 표출된 기사입니다

Market Kurly is considering going public on the New York Stock Exchange, after rival Coupang made a successful public debut in the U.S. and with pressure growing from investors who want to exit their investment in the online grocery delivery platform.

Sophie Kim, chief executive of Market Kurly, plans to list the company’s shares to have access to a lot of liquidity in the public markets and capitalize on favorable market conditions, industry sources said.

The decision comes after talks with internet giant Kakao to sell the company fell through in 2018. Market Kurly has since been focusing on raising funds from global investors.

Kim is left with few options but to take the company public because of growing pressure from investors who have a “drag-along” right, which allows a shareholder to drag other shareholders into the sale of shares by the shareholder to a third party.

With some of the early investors in Market Kurly reportedly considering exercising the drag-along right – which would result in the sale of her own interest in the company – Kim has probably felt forced to expedite preparations for an initial public offering (IPO) to provide an exit opportunity to them, industry watchers said.

The company’s IPO plans are in the early stages and the listing venue has not been decided. But many believe the listing on the New York Stock Exchange is mostly likely. Market Kurly is not eligible to list on Kospi, the South Korean benchmark index, because it has yet to turn a profit.

A successful U.S. public market debut of its bigger rival, Coupang, could also have an impact on the company’s decision on the listing venue. Coupang last Thursday raised $4.6 billion in the largest U.S. initial public offering so far this year at some $63 billion valuation.

Founded in December 2014, Market Kurly is known for its overnight grocery delivery services. The Seoul-based company raised about 200 billion won ($176 million) at a 800 billion won valuation in the latest funding round last year, which brought to 420 billion won the amount raised by the company to date.

Investors include global investment firms Hillhouse Capital, Sequoia Capital China, DST Global and Aspex Management. After rounds of funding, Kim’s stake has been diluted to less than 10%.

Market Kurly has seen rapid growth since its launch, with revenue increasing from 17.3 billion won in 2016 to 428.9 billion won in 2019. Its revenue has almost doubled over the past year, surpassing 1 trillion won. However, it is still unprofitable with a negative profit margin of over 10%.

Market Kurly looks to continue to invest in logistics infrastructure to expand its service areas. But it faces growing competition from traditional retail conglomerates, such as Lotte and Shinsegae, which are trying to expand their business to online platforms.

“Market Kurly will need to raise additional capital in order to strengthen its position amid intensifying competition,” said an industry insider. “It is highly likely to go public abroad because most of the investors in the company are global investors.” (Reporting by Eun Kim)