SoftBank Vision Fund invests US$2bn in Coupang
Korean ecommerce firm Coupang announced on 20 November that it has secured a US$2bn investment from Japan’s SoftBank Vision Fund
SoftBank Group invested $1bn in Coupang in 2015, and the tech-oriented Vision Fund has now entered the fray in support of Korea’s answer to Amazon.
Coupang’s growth in recent years has been staggering, with its annual revenues increasing by more than 200% over the past two years. In its statement, the firm said its 2018 revenue is on the march towards $5bn.
In its statement, Coupang said that 50% of South Korea’s population has downloaded its mobile app, and millions of its customers make more than 50 purchases on its platform each year.
“At Coupang, we are obsessed with making customers’ lives easier,” said Bom Kim, Coupang CEO, in the company’s statement.
“We’re excited to continue our partnership with SoftBank. We are confident this investment will allow us to leverage the platforms we have created in logistics, payments, and data to make e-commerce and other innovations even more indispensable to our customers.”
Coupang has invested heavily in its technological capabilities and logistics infrastructure, and offers guaranteed one-day delivery on 4mn of its 120mn product range.
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As of September this year, Coupang’s Rocket delivery service has delivered more than 1bn items.
Lydia Jett, Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers and Board Member at Coupang, said:
“Coupang seeks to have a revolutionary technology platform and uncompromising focus on customer delight.
“We believe the company is well-positioned to lead the Korean e-commerce market, with significant platform opportunities ahead given its data, payments and logistics advantage.”
