Ballan Secures 25 Billion KRW Series C Funding... Accelerates Business Expansion

Published 14 Oct.2022 09:59(KST)

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-yoon] Online luxury platform Ballan announced on the 14th that it has successfully raised a total of 25 billion KRW in Series C funding.

This investment involved Shinhan Capital, Company K Partners, and Daol Investment, completing a 20 billion KRW raise. By the end of this month, two additional investors are confirmed to participate, bringing the total Series C funding to 25 billion KRW. With the completion of this Series C round, Ballan's cumulative investment raised amounts to 73.5 billion KRW.

Ballan explained that its transaction volume in the first half of this year reached 381.2 billion KRW, a 400% increase compared to the previous year, and its membership exceeded 2.25 million, a fivefold increase year-over-year, demonstrating rapid growth in the luxury platform market, which was highly evaluated. Leveraging this investment, Ballan plans to revise its business expansion strategy including mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and aims to prove intrinsic value through profitability turnaround in Q4, continuously enhancing its investment value.

This year, Ballan launched services such as the golf specialty section, fast delivery service "Ballan Express," "product price comparison feature," and "Ballan Care." In July, it introduced "Connected Retail" at its Yeouido IFC store. Reflecting the domestic market atmosphere within the year, Ballan aims to improve its business profit structure and diversify product categories to surpass an annual transaction volume of 1 trillion KRW and achieve net profit positivity this year. To expand its luxury commerce position, Ballan will enhance customer services by expanding the Ballan Express delivery area and launching a gifting service, and plans to introduce a B2B marketplace business solution combining supply chain finance and IT services to strengthen B2B services.

Choi Hyung-rok, CEO of Ballan, said, "During a generally challenging market environment, Ballan's service technology and growth value were highly appreciated, enabling us to successfully secure this Series C investment." He added, "We plan to use the investment funds to strengthen our position as a luxury platform, build a value chain to reinforce business growth drivers, and create new revenue sources and value."