Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs, Douglas Research Advisory

Douglas Kim

Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs

Equity Capital Markets

<div class="content-highlight">
<p><a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-softbank-backed-coupang-reveals-134723758.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Coupang</a>, the largest e-commerce company in Korea, is getting ready to complete its IPO in the New York Stock Exchange in the next few weeks. Coupang is aiming for a valuation of nearly <strong>$50 billion.</strong> This IPO is expected to be the largest IPO by an non-US company in the United States since the Alibaba IPO in 2014. Coupang was last valued at $9 billion in its last private fund raising around 2018. The IPO placeholder is put at $1 billion but this amount is likely to be raised much further. </p>
<p>Coupang has received nearly $3 billion from Softbank and Softbank's Vision Fund since the inception of the company. Other major investors of Coupang include Blackrock, Sequoia Capital, and Bill Ackman. Major underwriters of the Coupang IPO include Goldman Sachs, Allen &amp; Co, JP Morgan, BofA Securities and Citigroup. </p>
</div>


Coupang, the largest e-commerce company in Korea, is getting ready to complete its IPO in the New York Stock Exchange in the next few weeks. Coupang is aiming for a valuation of nearly $50 billion. This IPO is expected to be the largest IPO by an non-US company in the United States since the Alibaba IPO in 2014. Coupang was last valued at $9 billion in its last private fund raising around 2018. The IPO placeholder is put at $1 billion but this amount is likely to be raised much further. 
Coupang has received nearly $3 billion from Softbank and Softbank's Vision Fund since the inception of the company. Other major investors of Coupang include Blackrock, Sequoia Capital, and Bill Ackman. Major underwriters of the Coupang IPO include Goldman Sachs, Allen &amp; Co, JP Morgan, BofA Securities and Citigroup. 


Private Capital Markets

<div class="content-highlight"><p><strong>According to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-06/softbank-s-son-is-poised-for-another-ipo-windfall-in-2021" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bloomberg, </a>it reported that Coupang, the largest e-commerce company in Korea, is getting ready to complete its IPO as soon as 2Q 2021.</strong> The estimated valuation of Coupang could be at least $30 billion. Softbank invested $2.7 billion in Coupang and <a href="https://biz.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2021/01/07/2021010702121.html?utm_source=naver&amp;utm_medium=original&amp;utm_campaign=biz" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Softbank (Vision Fund)</a> currently has a 37% stake in the company. If Mr. Market is willing to place a $30 billion valuation on Coupang, Softbank would reap a cool $8 billion+ gain on its investments in Coupang.</p></div>

According to Bloomberg, it reported that Coupang, the largest e-commerce company in Korea, is getting ready to complete its IPO as soon as 2Q 2021. The estimated valuation of Coupang could be at least $30 billion. Softbank invested $2.7 billion in Coupang and Softbank (Vision Fund) currently has a 37% stake in the company. If Mr. Market is willing to place a $30 billion valuation on Coupang, Softbank would reap a cool $8 billion+ gain on its investments in Coupang.

Initial Thoughts on the Coupang IPO & Impact on SK Telecom (11st) Vs. Naver

Founder/CEO of ROK Advisory, ROK Advisory LLC

Ken S. Kim

Founder/CEO of ROK Advisory

ROK Advisory LLC

ROK is an independent research advisory firm. We guide you to minimize the information gap between foreign and local investors in Northeast Asia with a focus in Korea, Taiwan and Japan.

Independent Research Advisory Firm

Equity Bottom-Up

<div>While the details are scarce, local press is reporting that SKT and AMZN has been in talks for more than a year and would allow really an export/import biz on both of their channels (ie Korean products to be bought by US consumers and US products to be bought thru 11th St (SK's ecommerce portal) for Koreans. </div><div></div><div>This can't be good for the ecommerce players in Korea.  In the US, if you hear that AMZN is coming in whatever business, the whole sector falls.   Is Naver next? </div>

While the details are scarce, local press is reporting that SKT and AMZN has been in talks for more than a year and would allow really an export/import biz on both of their channels (ie Korean products to be bought by US consumers and US products to be bought thru 11th St (SK's ecommerce portal) for Koreans. This can't be good for the ecommerce players in Korea.  In the US, if you hear that AMZN is coming in whatever business, the whole sector falls.   Is Naver next? 

AMZN into Korea - "We Are Not Here to Take Part, We're Here to Take Over!"

<p>In this insight, we provide the top 100 unicorns in Asia (including summaries), broken down by the major countries in Asia. China, India, and Korea lead the Asian countries in having the most number of Asian unicorns. We used the standard definition of a unicorn which refers to a privately held startup company valued at over $1 billion.</p>
<p>Clearly, one of the key differences in the global markets now as compared to a decade or two decades ago is the fact that the world's biggest venture capital and private equity firms are willing to invest a greater amount of capital in attractive Unicorns and "Pre-Unicorns" which has resulted in many of these private companies delaying their potential exit to IPO at later stages of their businesses. </p>
<p>There has been so much money made from the first generation tech giants such as Google, Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Alibaba, and Tencent. Many of these companies were not profitable in their early stages of growth but later gained tremendous economies of scale. Therefore, many investors in the Asian unicorns that have seen the progress of the first-generation tech giants are willing to invest in promising, young companies without profitability now to see their business development take place which could potentially reward them with outstanding returns later on. </p>

In this insight, we provide the top 100 unicorns in Asia (including summaries), broken down by the major countries in Asia. China, India, and Korea lead the Asian countries in having the most number of Asian unicorns. We used the standard definition of a unicorn which refers to a privately held startup company valued at over $1 billion.
Clearly, one of the key differences in the global markets now as compared to a decade or two decades ago is the fact that the world's biggest venture capital and private equity firms are willing to invest a greater amount of capital in attractive Unicorns and "Pre-Unicorns" which has resulted in many of these private companies delaying their potential exit to IPO at later stages of their businesses. 
There has been so much money made from the first generation tech giants such as Google, Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Alibaba, and Tencent. Many of these companies were not profitable in their early stages of growth but later gained tremendous economies of scale. Therefore, many investors in the Asian unicorns that have seen the progress of the first-generation tech giants are willing to invest in promising, young companies without profitability now to see their business development take place which could potentially reward them with outstanding returns later on. 

Danggeun Market / Private Capital Markets

<p><strong>In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Danggeun Market has surged to become the number one player in the used goods e-commerce marketplace in Korea in 2020. </strong><a href="http://www.theinvestor.co.kr/view.php?ud=20190909000563" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Danggeun Market</a> is a secondhand marketplace app that links buyers and sellers based on their locations and reviews. </p><p>Established in 2015, Danggeun Market received 40 billion won ($33.5 million) in funding in September 2019 from <strong>Altos Ventures, Goodwater Capital, Softbank Ventures, Kakao Ventures,</strong> Strong Ventures, and Capstone Ventures. Certainly, Danggeun Market has some very strong financial backers. </p><p><strong>Secret Sauce of Danggeun Market - </strong>The combination of ease of use, the quick neighborhood-based marketplace, and location-based services using artificial intelligence are the main reasons why the Korean consumers have flocked to using Danngeun Market app. </p><p>The explosive growth and popularity of Danggeun Market have resulted in a heightened competitive threat to other shopping e-commerce platforms including Coupang, 11st (SK Telecom affiliate), Wemakeprice, Gmarket, and Naver.</p>

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Danggeun Market has surged to become the number one player in the used goods e-commerce marketplace in Korea in 2020. Danggeun Market is a secondhand marketplace app that links buyers and sellers based on their locations and reviews. Established in 2015, Danggeun Market received 40 billion won ($33.5 million) in funding in September 2019 from Altos Ventures, Goodwater Capital, Softbank Ventures, Kakao Ventures, Strong Ventures, and Capstone Ventures. Certainly, Danggeun Market has some very strong financial backers. Secret Sauce of Danggeun Market - The combination of ease of use, the quick neighborhood-based marketplace, and location-based services using artificial intelligence are the main reasons why the Korean consumers have flocked to using Danngeun Market app. The explosive growth and popularity of Danggeun Market have resulted in a heightened competitive threat to other shopping e-commerce platforms including Coupang, 11st (SK Telecom affiliate), Wemakeprice, Gmarket, and Naver.

Danggeun Market - Surging to #1 App of Used Goods E-Commerce in Korea

South Korea

Coupang, Inc. operates as an e-commerce company. The Company offers dynamic end-to-end e-commerce and logistic solutions. Coupang serves customers worldwide.

Price Gauge
52-week Range	0.00 - 0.00
Market Cap (USDm)	0.00
P/E	0.00
Dividend (Yield)	0.00

Coupang (CPNG US)

Coupang IPO Preview

Coupang, the largest e-commerce company in Korea, is getting ready to complete its IPO in the New York Stock Exchange in the next few weeks....

Douglas Kim

Initial Thoughts on the Coupang IPO & Impact on SK Telecom (11st) Vs. Naver

According to Bloomberg, it reported that Coupang is getting ready to complete its IPO as soon as 2Q 2021. The estimated valuation of Coupang could...

Douglas Kim

AMZN into Korea - "We Are Not Here to Take Part, We're Here to Take Over!"

I guess the Koreans aren't scared of Amazon's entry into the ecommerce space! I'm a seller of Naver here on the news that Amazon will come into...

Ken S. Kim

Top 100 Asian Unicorns

A unicorn is a term in business world to indicate a privately held startup company valued at over $1 billion.

Douglas Kim

Danggeun Market - Surging to #1 App of Used Goods E-Commerce in Korea

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Danggeun Market has surged to become the number one player in the used goods e-commerce marketplace in Korea...

Douglas Kim

Price Gauge

52-week Range

Market Cap (USDm)

P/E

Dividend (Yield)