Investors put 89.7 million dollars into Market Kurly

Market Kurly, a fresh produce e-commerce operator, secured 100 billion won ($89.7 million) in investment, the company said Thursday.

The investment is by a consortium that includes investors like venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, who had already invested in the company.

“We will spend the investment on establishing a supply chain management system for improving distribution, fostering close collaboration of producers and supplementing labor enforcement for stable management,” said a press officer for the company.

Market Kurly generated a lot of buzz when it was established in 2015 for its promise to deliver groceries by dawn. Ever since, dawn deliveries have become a key strategy used by other retailers. Emart launched a new service last May under the name SSG Good Morning, while Coupang, a major e-commerce player, started offering them in October. Department stores and homeshopping operators are also catching on.

The value of the dawn delivery market jumped around 40 times and is now estimated at 400 billion won, according to industry insiders. It was only 10 billion won in 2015.

Market Kurly’s revenues hit 157 billion won last year, a threefold on-year increase.

BY JIN MIN-JI [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]