Bom Kim, who founded the e-commerce giant Coupang, was the biggest gainer on this year’s list of Korea’s richest. His net worth jumped to $6.4 billion after the company went public on the NYSE in March.
But in the eyes of venture capitalist Eric Kim, Coupang has already been out-Amazoning Amazon in Korea for a while.
SoftBank-backed Coupang, which raised $4.6 billion in IPO proceeds, had an extremely auspicious start on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday. Shares rocketed as much as 84% intraday before paring gains and closing up 42% on the day.
The ten-year-old company is led by billionaire Bom Kim, who dropped out of Harvard Business School after just six months to capture the massive e-commerce opportunity in South Korea.
Eric Kim first met Bom Kim in 2011, also just six months after Coupang launched. Then, as a managing director at the long/short hedge fund Maverick Capital, Eric led the early-stage investment in Coupang on behalf of Maverick and stayed on the board at Coupang on Maverick s behalf until 2017.
Read more about SoftBank-backed e-commerce firm Coupang raises $4.2 bn in US IPO: Report on Business Standard. The IPO price of $35 apiece, higher than the marketing range $32-$34 per share, gives Seoul-headquartered Coupang, which is backed by Japan s SoftBank Group Corp, a market value of $60 billion
Everything you need to know about the Coupang IPO
Rebecca Cattlin March 4, 2021 10:45 AM
Coupang is the largest and fastest e-commerce service in Korea – both in terms of growth and speed of delivery. The company held its IPO in March 2021 and raised over $4 billion. Discover everything you should know about Coupang and its IPO. Share:
What is Coupang?
Coupang is a South Korean e-commerce company, founded in 2010 by Bom Kim. The company was initially a discount site, similar to Groupon, but eventually focused on e-commerce. It’s now the largest e-commerce company in Korea and is on track to become the third-largest e-commerce market in the world.