Seoul-based Coupang, an online retailer, announced today that it has raised an impressive $300 million in new funding led by BlackRock Private Equity Partners, with participation from Wellington Management Company, LLP, Greenoaks Capital Management, and Rose Park Advisors.
In an interview with TechCrunch, Coupang’s founder Bom Kim says that the capital will be invested in two key areas: the technology behind its mobile apps, which generates 70 percent of Coupang’s revenue and 80 percent of its total traffic, and its logistics network, which can provide delivery within the same day (or several hours in some parts of South Korea). It will also make additional hires for its engineering and research and development offices, which are located in Silicon Valley, Seattle, and Shanghai, in addition to Seoul.
The company is not disclosing its current valuation, but Coupang’s last funding round of $100 million in May, led by Sequoia Capital, put it at over $1 billion. Kim says that the company’s valuation has increased since then and its latest funding is an upround.