Live commerce platform Grip raises 8 billion won, bringing total to 12 billion

Grip Company, which operates the live commerce platform Grip, announced on the 24th that it had closed an 8 billion won funding round, bringing its total funding to 12 billion won.

The round drew participation from all existing investors in the company’s seed and Series A rounds, including Korea Investment Partners, Neoplux and TBT. Grip’s total funding of 12 billion won is the largest among live commerce platforms in Korea.

Grip is Korea’s first live commerce app. Users can interact with sellers in real time and hear product descriptions, while sellers can easily broadcast live from their mobile phones, anytime and anywhere.

“As the mobile live commerce market begins to take off, the company is growing rapidly amid unprecedented changes in the business environment,” said Jeong Hwa-mok, senior partner at Korea Investment Partners, which also led this follow-on investment. “We decided to invest again because Grip’s team is creating a meaningful service for both consumers and sellers, as reflected in its notably low exchange and return rates and higher purchase conversion rates than the average for general commerce platforms.”

“As contactless shopping trends spread and interest in live video shopping grows, I believe our ability to respond to rapid market growth was highly valued,” said Kim Han-na, CEO of Grip Company. “We will use the investment to raise awareness of Grip so more people in Korea can use it, and do our best to establish it as a live commerce platform that expands beyond Korea to the global market.”

Grip said its transaction volume grew 122-fold in one year compared with July last year. The number of merchants on the platform has also surpassed 4,000. Because small business owners can easily livestream sales from anywhere, more than 200 broadcasts have recently been held each day. This makes Grip Korea’s largest live commerce platform.

Grip: http://gripcorp.co/