December 06, 2024

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China International Capital Corp, China’s leading investment bank, is set to invest 5 billion won ($4.2 million) in South Korea’s largest secondhand goods platform Joonggo Nara, the Hankuk Business Daily reported on May 30.

This marks CICC’s first direct investment in a local company.

CICC will join hands with local financial companies including private equity firm Pureun Partners, which will set up a 20 billion fund next month. Other investors include BNK Capital and a financial holding group, which will invest 3 billion won each, and a couple of strategic partners are expected to join, the report said.
 

Joonggo Nara started as a Naver-based interview community in 2003 and is the largest platform for used goods trading with 17 million users. Transactions reach 2-3 trillion won every year. But most of them are person-to-person transactions.

In 2014, it set up a legal entity and introduced a separate app. Last year it recorded 4.3 billion in sales but made a loss.

With the proceedings, the company will boost its app to reduce its reliance on Naver and plans to compete against existing e-commerce players.

“We want to develop a platform where anyone can become a reseller -- which is becoming a trend among students and housewives,” Joonggo Nara CEO Lee Seung-woo said.

Alibaba Group, China’s most valuable company and the operator of e-commerce platform Taobao, owns 4.84 percent in CICC.

By Park Ga-young (gypark@heraldcorp.com)