이 기사는 2021년 04월 21일 07:57 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

South Korean grocery ecommerce startup Kurly Inc has launched a new funding round to raise further capital before its planned initial public offering (IPO). But investors are cautious because of what seems to be an excessive valuation of the company.

Kurly, which operates online grocery delivery platform Market Kurly, recently hired Morgan Stanley to raise about 300 billion won ($268.7 million) in fresh capital from new investors in order to expand its overnight delivery service nationwide.

Several private equity firms have expressed interest in the funding round, industry sources said. The Seoul-based company is understood to be flexible with the timeline of the funding process, seemingly to have enough time to contemplate proposals from potential investors.

Kurly is reportedly seeking to be valued at 3 trillion won in the new round. This represents more than a three-fold jump from the previous funding round only a year ago, in which the startup raised 200 billion won at a 900 billion won valuation. Contributors to the round included new investors DST Global and Aspex Management as well as existing bakers including SK Networks, Hillhouse Capital and Sequoia Capital China.

However, some investors are taking a cautious view, citing the startup’s lofty valuation.

“There is no doubt that Kurly has experienced rapid top-line growth in recent years, but it could be difficult to convince limited partners about the company’s valuation which has soared in just a year,” said an official at one private equity firm in Seoul.

“Many limited partners already participated in Kurly’s previous funding rounds and some of them view its valuation as expensive, meaning a smaller pool of limited partners for private equity firms to market the investment.”

Another private equity source said: “The 3 trillion won valuation can be justified only if Kurly is successful in its planned IPO in the US where its shares could be priced at a higher multiple than in South Korea. Coupang’s US listing is clearly positive for the ecommerce sector as a whole, but that does not guarantee a successful IPO of Kurly because it is smaller than Coupang and also less diversified with its business largely concentrated in the grocery segment.”

“We will examine information provided by Kurly and check further with the company before making a final decision. We are also considering a partnership with another financial investor to reduce investment risk,” the source added.

Kurly hired Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan in March to lead the listing process. It had initially mandated local broker Samsung Securities as lead bookrunner. But the company canceled the contract earlier this year to give the plum role to the three foreign investment banks, which was seen as a sign that Kurly would likely choose the US as its listing venue.

Kurly’s sales jumped 123.8% year on year to 953.1 billion won and net loss narrowed 7.9% to 222.4 billion won in 2020, while operating loss widened 14.8% to 116.3 billion won in the same period. (Reporting by Byung-yoon Kim)