Style commerce platform ‘ABLY’ raised 50B won funding
Ably Corporation, which operates the South Korea-based style commerce platform ABLY, announced today that it has raised KRW 50 billion in funding. The investment was led by private equity fund (PEF) manager Pinetree Asset Management and was conducted as a ‘Venture Debt’. The cumulative investment amount is KRW 223 billion, the largest in the women’s shopping industry.
The company plans to launch a Series C round this year to achieve a “unicorn” valuation.
Venture Debt is a strategic financing approach that is a win-win for both the investor and the startup. Startups can secure sufficient working capital with minimal equity dilution compared to issuing new securities, while investors can safely lend to well-vetted startups and reap the rewards. It is an advanced financial product that has been used by more than 40% of U.S. tech startups, including Google, Facebook, Airbnb, Spotify, and Uber. Other countries such as the UK and Israel are also utilizing it to scale up their startups.
Launched in March 2018, Ably is a style commerce platform that recommends products that match users’ tastes through an AI personalized recommendation algorithm. It provides a “personalized recommendation service” that connects users with various styles of products based on their tastes by analyzing big data such as product steaming and purchase history. With the synergy of Ably’s technology and Japanese localized big data, it has successfully entered the global market by launching the Japanese service ‘amood’. It is the only Korean platform to rank in the top 5 of shopping app downloads.
Ably is the fastest-growing fashion platform in the industry with the highest number of users in the shortest amount of time and annualized transaction value of 1 trillion won. Ably has 7 million monthly active users (MAUs), making it the 3rd most popular shopping app in Korea after Coupang and 11th Street. In just four years since its launch, it has generated more than KRW 100 billion in monthly transactions and KRW 1 trillion in annual transactions.
“It is meaningful to be recognized for our unique business differentiation, growth value, and profitability despite the investment climate,” said Seokhoon Kang, CEO of Able. “With stable business funding, we will successfully complete the next unicorn round.”
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