Daangn Market turns a profit, its first in eight years

[Courtesy of Daangn Market Inc.]

Daangn Market Inc., a South Korean platform for second-hand trading, recorded an annual profit for the first time in its eight-year history.

According to sources on Friday, Daangn announced that its non-consolidated sales for 2023 amounted to 127.6 billion won ($94.64 million), up 156 percent from the previous year. This surge is over tenfold compared to 11.8 billion won in 2020, when the platform business was fully in operation.

The 2023 operating profit was17.3 billion won, a significant turnaround from a deficit of 46.4 billion won during the previous year.

This marks the first time the company has achieved operating profit since it was founded in 2015. The company saw its operating losses grow steadily, which hit 13.4 billion won in 2020, 35.2 billion won in 2021, and in the 40 billion won range in 2022, before successfully turning profitable in 2023 due to increased advertising revenue, among other factors.

Advertising revenue for 2023 grew over 2.5 times compared to the previous year. Advertising revenue’s compound annual growth rate was 122 percent over the past three years, demonstrating rapid annual growth.

On a consolidated basis, the company incurred an operating loss of 1.1 billion won with overseas subsidiaries in North America, Japan, and other regions, as well as the inclusion of subsidiary costs such as Daangn Pay in operating expenses. But this represents a decrease of over 98 percent compared to the previous year, with the company achieving a net profit of 2.4 billion won in 2023.

Building on its steep growth trajectory, Daangn plans to expand investments in new businesses and accelerate its global market expansion efforts.

The Korean company, which launched in the United Kingdom in November 2019 under the name Karrot, has now expanded to over 560 regions in four countries including Canada, the United States, and Japan.

In Canada, the number of monthly active users (MAUs) increased by more than threefold in February 2024 versus a year ago, while increasing by more than 3.5 times in Japan.