South Korean e-commerce behemoth Coupang is targeting a $58 billion valuation in its New York market debut later this week after the company raised the offering's upper price on Tuesday.
Coupang raised the pricing to between $32 and $34 per share in a regulatory filing, a jump from its earlier proposal of between $27 and $30, meaning the firm could raise just over $4 billion at the top end of the range.
If successful, Coupang will nearly double its valuation - which hovered around $30 billion at the start of 2020, through the updated listing.
The Seoul-headquartered company was founded 11 years ago by Bom Suk Kim. Softbank Group invested $1 billion in Coupang in 2015, followed by an additional $2 billion from its venture capital arm VisionFund three years later, giving the Japanese conglomerate a 37% stake in total.
Coupang filed for an initial public offering with the SEC on Feb. 12 with Goldman Sachs, Allen & Co., J.P. Morgan, Citigroup and HSBC as lead underwriters.
SEC filings show the company's annual revenue has steadily grown since 2018 to reach $11.97 billion in 2020, almost double the $6.27 billion in revenue Coupang raked in the year before.
At the same time, losses have been shrinking from $900 million in 2018 to $474.9 million last year on the back of demand for Coupang's popular "Rocket Delivery" service which promises delivery within 24 hours.
Nearly 70% of South Koreans live within 10 minutes from one of the company's logistics centers, according to the Coupang prospectus, meaning more than 98% of orders are eligible for next day delivery.
While Coupang's speedy deliveries are cheap for consumers, couriers pay an often fatal price as employees are pushed to keep up with demand.
16 delivery workers died from exhaustion in 2020 according to the Taekbae Union of couriers, and the toll grew last weekend when a 48-year old Coupang worker collapsed at home.
The man had been making just over minimum wage despite working up to 16 hours a day.
