Ably Corp. runs e-commerce fashion shopping platforms such as Ably, 4910 and Amood. Courtesy of Ably
Unicorn company draws $71 million
By Ko Dong-hwan
Online fashion shopping platform Ably has drawn a 100 billion won ($71 million) investment from Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, accomplishing its first investment deal with a global company, the Korean e-commerce company said on Tuesday.
Ably Corp., which operates the Korean fashion platform, said the Chinese company believed in Ably’s potential, proven by its tracks of growth in market share, trade volume, expansion overseas and adaptability to an artificial intelligence-based, or AI, user interface.
Ably CEO Kang Seok-hoon said it “has won the investment from Alibaba, which has acknowledged Ably’s overall asset worth of 3 trillion won.” He added that the Chinese company trusted Ably’s “business maneuverability and potential.”
Ably said the Alibaba investment reassured the Korean firm’s market leadership. Among Korea’s e-commerce fashion companies, Ably has shown the steepest growth and the highest number of active users, a company official said. The firm also established an overseas base with the e-commerce platform Amood in Japan, which allowed Ably to promote K-fashion to broader parts of the world.
“Alibaba has bought our global competitiveness,” the official said. “Our logistics center in Seoul’s Seongsu area allows us to export fast. We adopted AI technology upon launching our main platform in 2018, the very technology that currently recommends picks for users. Behind those technologies are engineers whom Ably CEO Kang had worked with when he co-founded Watcha (Korean streaming service) in 2011.”
Alibaba’s investment has earned Ably unicorn status — a startup valued at 1 trillion won or more within 10 years. This marks the fastest achievement in Korea’s e-commerce fashion industry, according to the company. Since its last funding round in January 2022, Ably’s valuation has surged by three and half times.
Alibaba’s investment came as Ably has been searching for a 200 billion won scale investment from across the world. Now, Ably said it expects to obtain the remaining 100 billion from Silicon Valley or a sovereign wealth fund, with discussions currently underway.
Ably has seen consistently increasing sales since 2020, peaking at 260 billion won in 2023. Earnings turned from three-year consecutive deficits in the same year, seeing an operating profit of 3.3 billion won. The company’s monthly active users in October reached 8.8 million, past other major e-commerce dedicated goods retail companies in Korea such as Musinsa (7.7 million) and Olive Young (6.4 million).
English (United States) ·