Mesh Korea, Oasis Market team up on fast delivery

Oasis Market's fresh food products are picked up and loaded into a Vroong delivery vehicle. [OASIS MARKET]

Mesh Korea, operator of the food delivery service Vroong, established a joint venture with fresh food e-commerce Oasis Market to deliver a range of goods to customers within an hour.

Mesh Korea announced Thursday that the two companies formed a joint venture called V, investing 5 billion won ($4.4 million).

Kim Young-jun, CEO of Oasis Market, which is 85.11 percent owned by Kosdaq-listed Gaeasoft, will be the largest shareholder with 50.0001 percent of the joint venture. Mesh Korea CEO Yoo Jeong-bum will own 49.9999 percent.

The companies plan to launch a "quick commerce" service, which refers to delivering goods within an hour, possibly named V Mart. It is supposed to start operating in the second half of this year.

V Mart will offer delivery of fresh food, apparel, books and pet products – items already being sold by Oasis Market.

In the early stages, the quick delivery service will be offered to users in Seoul. Both Vroong’s delivery service and Oasis Market’s offline stores are focused on the greater Seoul area.

Mesh Korea and Oasis Market are expanding their infrastructure beyond Seoul, and this will eventually allow the joint venture to offer quick delivery service nationwide. Vroong expanded its delivery service from being Seoul-exclusive to cover Gyeonggi and Incheon on Tuesday and Oasis Market is currently planning to build a distribution center Uiwang, Gyeonggi.

Both companies are eyeing unicorn status, with Oasis Market valued at 750 billion won and Mesh Korea valued at 550 billion won.

Other delivery platforms have launched quick commerce services in the past. Baedal Minjok was the first, adding the B Mart service to its food delivery application Baemin in 2019. In 2020, Yogiyo offered quick delivery via Yomart. Coupang Eats entered the market July 7.

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]