Korean unicorns see Q1 profitability worsen on weak demand, financing issues

[Photo by Park Hyung-ki]

South Korean unicorns, unlisted startups with valuation of over $1 billion, have seen their profitability worsen in the first quarter despite higher revenues, underscoring the importance of their ability to generate revenue over their expenses.

According to an analysis by Maeil Business Newspaper on Wednesday on the first-quarter earnings of five major non-listed companies, their combined revenue stood at 1.5 trillion won ($1.1 billion), up 7 percent from a year ago. The five companies are Dunamu Inc., Viva Republica Inc., Kakao Mobility Corp., Yanolja, and Kurly Inc.

Their combined operating profit, however, fell 7 percent to 174.4 billion won from 186.8 billion won during the same period.

Yanolja, a local travel platform and cloud service provider, saw the biggest drop in profitability from a year ago.

The company posted an operating loss of 11.9 billion won in the January-March period on sales of 153.6 billion won. Sales rose 56 percent from the same period a year ago but it swung to a loss from a profit of 6.6 billion won.

Viva Republica, the operator of the internet-only Toss Bank, also suffered an operating loss of 59.8 billion won in the first quarter, widening from 55.8 billion won a year ago.

Sales, on the other hand, rose 54 percent to 340.3 billion won during the same period.

Dunamu, the company behind the virtual asset exchange Upbit, saw both operating profit and revenue fall during the cited period.

Sales declined to 304.9 billion won from 426.8 billion won and operating profit to 211.9 billion won from 287.8 billion won.

Kakao Mobility and Kurly, in the meantime, saw improved profitability.

Kakao Mobility posted 4.9 billion won in operating profit in the first quarter of last year, shifting from a loss of 300 million won a year ago. Sales also went up to 220.2 billion won from 160.1 billion won.

The overnight grocery delivery platform Kurly also saw its operating loss narrow to 30.5 billion won from 51.5 billion won during the same period, although sales fell to 509.6 billion won from 512.7 billion won.

Industry insiders note that the overall worsening profitability is largely attributed to the economic slowdown where demand for goods and services go down while financing gets more challenging.