Business
Coupang files for mega US IPO
Let’s dig into the South Korean e-commerce giant’s financial health
Earlier today, South Korean e-commerce and delivery giant Coupang filed to go public in the United States. As a private company, Coupang has raised billions, including capital from American venture capital firm Sequoia and Japanese telecom giant SoftBank and its Vision Fund.
Coupang’s revenue growth is nothing short of fantastic.
Coupang’s offering, coming amidst the public debut of a number of well-known technology brands, will be a massive affair. Its first S-1 filing indicates that its IPO will raise capital in the range of $1 billion, far larger than the $100 million placeholder that is more common.
But the company’s scale makes its lofty IPO fundraising goals reasonable. Coupang is huge, with revenues north of $10 billion in 2020 and in improving financial health as it scales. And its revenue growth has accelerated.
Perhaps that explains why the company is reportedly targeting a valuation of $50 billion.
This afternoon, let’s dig into the company’s historical growth, its improving cash flow and its narrowing losses. Coupang’s debut will create a splash when it lands, so we owe it to ourselves to grok its numbers.
And as there are other e-commerce brands with a delivery function waiting in the wings to go public — Instacart comes to mind — how Coupang fares in its IPO matters for a good number of domestic startups and unicorns.
Coupang’s surging scale
The company’s growth across the last half-decade is impressive. Observe its yearly revenue totals from 2016 through 2020:
- 2016: $1.67 billion.
- 2017: $2.4 billion (+43.7%).
- 2018: $4.05 billion (+68.8%).
- 2019: $6.27 billion (+54.8%).
- 2020: $11.97 billion (+90.9%).
Sure, some of that 2020 growth is COVID-19 related, but even taking that into account, Coupang’s revenue growth is nothing short of fantastic. And what’s better is that the company has cut its losses in recent years:
-
Entertainment7 days ago
Summer Movie Preview: From ‘Alien’ and ‘Furiosa’ to ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’
-
Entertainment6 days ago
What’s on the far side of the moon? Not darkness.
-
Business7 days ago
Thoma Bravo to take UK cybersecurity company Darktrace private in $5B deal
-
Business6 days ago
How Rubrik’s IPO paid off big for Greylock VC Asheem Chandna
-
Business5 days ago
TikTok faces a ban in the US, Tesla profits drop and healthcare data leaks
-
Business5 days ago
London’s first defense tech hackathon brings Ukraine war closer to the city’s startups
-
Business6 days ago
Photo-sharing community EyeEm will license users’ photos to train AI if they don’t delete them
-
Entertainment7 days ago
‘Challengers’ review: You’re not ready for Zendaya’s horny love-triangle drama