South Korean Start-Up Coupang Debuts In IPO

Coupang, a South Korean start-up company, has been known for quite a while as the country's "answer to Amazon." Founded by a dropout of Harvard Business School, this company made a wave in the industry and has become one of the most popular and successful e-commerce companies in South Korea.

This year, their presence is not only felt in Korea. Soon, it will be dominating the international market as the company announced its most extensive US initial public offering so far.

The company ended its first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday at $49.25, a 41% jump over its IPO price of $35. The offer has raised to nearly $4.6 billion. On their first day, the spike has given Coupang an $84.5 billion market capitalization.

Coupang was founded in 2010 by Bom Kim. Since then, the company's operations have expanded in Seattle, Shanghai, and Silicon Valley. Reports say that Kim is now worth $8.6 billion after taking Coupang public.

What makes this start-up stand out from the rest of the online shopping and delivery services out there is their "rocket delivery" service. Many online testimonials say that their services have been tremendous and have slowly become one of the recommended online shopping portals of choice. They are notable for their "next day" delivery, free shipping, as well as delivering groceries and other items to your doorstep within the same day of purchase.

Since the start of the pandemic, more and more people have relied on online shopping services to get the needed items that they want to their home instead of going out and risking themselves getting COVID-19. Similar services like Amazon reached a great demand last year, so there's no wonder why Coupang also received so many requests and orders from its growing online customers.

With the company now growing at such a great rate, many hope that Coupang's services will also expand to other countries the soonest.