S. Korea's Coupang raises $4.6 billion in US IPO

Coupang will raise nearly $4.6 billion in its US initial public offering, pricing its shares at $35 apiece and valuing the company at around $60 billion.

It is so far the largest US initial public offering this year.

South Korea's biggest e-commerce company will start trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "CPNG."

Coupang's IPO surpassed dating app Bumble's Wall Street IPO, which raised over $2 billion last month. It also became one of the biggest US exchange listings ever by an Asian company.

The Seoul-based Coupang is known for its "rocket delivery" service, which promises customers free shipping within hours or the next day. It is South Korea's answer to Amazon.

According to Goodwater Capital managing partner Eric Kim, a former Coupang board member, Coupang's customer loyalty and dominance in South Korea have a lot to do with their innovations on the delivery model.

He pointed out that Coupang offers what is dubbed as dawn delivery, which delivers midnight-placed orders at 7 am.

Its founder, Bom Kim, will personally be worth around $6 billion once Coupang goes public, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires index.

However, Coupang is criticized over working conditions, which are linked with the deaths of two of its delivery workers.

Coupang's business grew during the pandemic with more people staying at home and shopping online, boosting its next-day delivery orders of over 2 million at the start of the health crisis to 3.3 million per day.

Coupang lost around $475 million last year, improving from a $699 million net loss in 2019.