Kakao acquires 50% of Grip Company for KRW 180bn
Not yet reviewed: summarised from filings and press reports; figures may differ between reports. Please check the original sources.
- Deal value
- $124m
- Stake
- 50%
- Implied 100%
- $248m
- Revenue
- —
- Op. income
- —
- Multiples
- —
Deal value ÷ stake (structure unconfirmed)
- Target
- Grip Company · Live-commerce platform
- Buyer
- Kakao · SI
- Seller
- —
- Structure
- —
- Announced
- Dec 2, 2021
- Closed
- —
- Stage
- Closed
Target
Grip Company operates Grip, an SNS-based live-commerce platform launched in February 2019 with over 17,000 sellers that reached KRW 100bn in cumulative GMV within 2 years and 10 months; its B2B solution GripCloud was supplied to Qoo10 Japan.
Deal rationale
Kakao said it would combine Grip's live-commerce platform strength with Kakao's scalability and technology to enhance its commerce competitiveness and expand its role as a digital-transformation partner for offline merchants and small businesses (Kakao press release). CIO Bae Jae-hyun said Grip's support for offline stores during COVID-19 fit Kakao's 'technology for shared growth' direction; Grip CEO Kim Han-na said the partnership would accelerate its 'Everyone Can Sell' vision.
Press coverage
- 카카오 보도자료 (2021-12-02): “그립컴퍼니(대표 김한나)‘에 1,800억원을 투자하고 약 50%의 지분을 확보했다고 밝혔다”
- 더팩트 (2021-12-02): “‘그립컴퍼니’에 1800억 원을 투자하고 약 50%의 지분을 확보했다고 2일 밝혔다”
- 바이라인네트워크 (2021-12-02): “그립의 라이브커머스 플랫폼 경쟁력과 카카오의 확장성 및 기술력을 결합해”
This is a data entry summarising filings and press reports. Please check the original sources for the figures.