In August 2021, Danggeun Market, the South Korean company behind the neighbourhood secondhand-trading and community app known in English as Karrot, completed a Series D funding round. Korean reporting put the round at KRW178.9 billion, rounded in headlines to about KRW180 billion, and the company’s valuation at around KRW3 trillion. TechCrunch, reporting the round on 17 August 2021, described it in US dollars as a $162 million raise at a $2.7 billion valuation.
The won and dollar figures describe the same round. This review gives each as reported and does not convert them, because no source examined states the exchange rate used.
Verified background
According to TechCrunch, Gary Kim and Paul Kim founded Danggeun Market in 2015; the name means “carrot” in Korean. A KB Securities industry report published on 13 June 2022 traces the service to Pangyo Jangteo, a secondhand marketplace launched in July 2015 for office workers in Pangyo. It was renamed Danggeun Market in October 2015, when GPS-based neighbourhood verification was introduced, and its trading area was extended nationwide in February 2018.
Distance was the core design choice. TechCrunch reported in August 2021 that the app showed listings only from sellers within a 6 km radius in South Korea, and within 10 miles at most in the UK.
KB’s company timeline lists two earlier rounds: KRW6.8 billion in a Series B in May 2018 and KRW40 billion in a Series C in September 2019. KB described the Series D valuation as more than ten times the value assessed at the Series C.
Both TechCrunch and Daehan Economic Daily carried company-supplied user figures at the time of the round: more than 21 million registered users, and monthly active users rising from 1.8 million in 2019 to 4.8 million in 2020 and 14.2 million in 2021. These were company-reported figures; this review did not independently verify them or establish whether they had been audited. Outside Korea, both outlets reported that the Karrot app was operating in 72 local areas across four countries: the UK, the US, Canada and Japan.
The round: investors and stated plans
TechCrunch reported that DST Global led the round, with participation from Aspex Management and Reverent Partners and from existing investors including Goodwater Capital, Altos Ventures, SoftBank Ventures Asia, Kakao Ventures, Strong Ventures and Capstone Partners. Daehan Economic Daily listed the same investors without naming a lead.
The stated uses of the money were plans, not results. The Korean report cited technology development, hiring and wider overseas expansion, including growing headcount from about 200 to around 300 by the end of 2021. TechCrunch listed global expansion, business diversification, research and development, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and recruitment. Both reports said the company intended to launch its own payment service, Danggeun Pay (Karrot Pay), in 2021; co-CEO Gary Kim told TechCrunch that the company expected approval for two payment licences from South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service as early as September 2021.
On a stock market listing, Kim told TechCrunch the company was “not in a hurry for an IPO at this stage” and wanted “to consider going public after we make stable profits.”
Why the figures are easy to confuse
Three different numbers circulated around this round:
- Round size: KRW178.9 billion in Korean sources; $162 million in TechCrunch.
- Valuation: about KRW3 trillion; $2.7 billion in TechCrunch. This is the value placed on the company, not money raised. None of the sources says whether it was a pre-money or post-money figure.
- Cumulative funding: KRW227 billion in Daehan Economic Daily and in KB Securities, which counted Series A to D; TechCrunch gave “$205 million total raised”. This is a running total, not the size of the Series D.
A valuation is also not a measure of profit. KB’s June 2022 report, based on the 2021 financial statements, listed 2021 revenue of KRW25.7 billion and an operating loss of KRW35.2 billion. It flagged dependence on advertising revenue, cash flow and possible dilution from redeemable convertible preferred shares and stock options, which it estimated at 39.3% and 3.2% of issued shares.
Key facts and timeline
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| July 2015 | Pangyo Jangteo, the service’s first name, launched | KB Securities (June 2022) |
| October 2015 | Renamed Danggeun Market; GPS neighbourhood verification added | KB Securities |
| May 2018 | Series B, KRW6.8 billion | KB Securities |
| September 2019 | Series C, KRW40 billion | KB Securities |
| November 2019 | Karrot launched in the UK | TechCrunch; KB Securities |
| September and October 2020 | Karrot launched in Canada, then the US | TechCrunch; KB Securities |
| February or March 2021 | Karrot launched in Japan (TechCrunch says February; KB’s timeline lists March) | TechCrunch; KB Securities |
| August 2021 | Series D completed: KRW178.9 billion at a valuation of about KRW3 trillion | Daehan Economic Daily; KB Securities |
| 17 August 2021, 4:00 pm PDT (18 August, 08:00 Korea time) | TechCrunch reported $162 million at a $2.7 billion valuation | TechCrunch |
| 18 August 2021, 09:06 Korea time | Daehan Economic Daily reported the round as completed | Daehan Economic Daily |
| 13 June 2022 | KB Securities restated the Series D figures and published 2021 results | KB Securities |
What remains uncertain
- No company announcement, investment agreement or closing document for the round was found. The legal closing date is unknown, so the event is dated to August 2021 only. The publication times above are when the round was reported, not when it closed.
- The sources do not say whether the valuation was pre-money, post-money or fully diluted.
- The exchange rate behind the dollar figures was not stated. The won and dollar amounts, including the two cumulative totals, are reported separately and not converted.
- User and activity figures were supplied by the company in August 2021 and were not independently verified.
- This review did not check whether the plans described in August 2021, including the payment launch, licence approvals, hiring targets and overseas expansion, were carried out as described.
- KB’s report gives two different dates for the Series A, so that round is left out of the timeline.
- Investor names are spelled differently across sources; this review follows TechCrunch.
About this review
This page is a newly written historical review based on the sources listed below. It is not the original article that once appeared at the legacy address. No archived copy of that page was found, and its content is not reconstructed here. Its author and original publication date could not be confirmed. The event period and the publication date of this review are shown separately. Other reviews are listed in the Historical Archive, and current coverage is in Business.
