GBike (CEO Jong-Soo Yoon), which operates the PM sharing service platform 'GCOO,' has attracted pre-Series C investment from Link Asset Management and Mirae Asset Securities and announced on the 28th that they have signed an IPO underwriting contract with Mirae Asset Securities.
GBike conducted an investment round for about 3 months from December 2022 to February 2023, successfully attracting investment from Link Asset Management and Mirae Asset Securities, with Link Asset Management being an investor that first invested in SpaceX in 2017 in Korea. Additionally, GBike signed a representative underwriting contract for the KOSDAQ market IPO with Mirae Asset Securities on February 27th, aiming for an IPO in early 2025.
GBike is currently the leading company in the domestic personal mobility industry and has been the top in Asia in terms of sales since 2021. They have successfully started the domestic production of shared PM for the first time in the industry, and are recording noticeable growth by enhancing service quality based on big data and AI, and increasing the efficiency of nationwide operations through a full-time, directly managed organization.
According to GBike, they recorded 53 billion won in sales in 2022, a 60% increase in sales and a 38-fold increase in operating profit compared to the previous year, leading to an overall sales rise and substantial growth in business size. Such growth has attracted the interest of various companies, which has led to the successful attraction of this investment.
GBike changed the brand name of their PM sharing service in early this year from 'Gcooter' to 'GCOO'. Having started its expansion into the US in LA and Thailand last year, GBike is accelerating its launch not only in the domestic market but also overseas. Starting from April this year, the service will also be available in Guam and Vietnam. Considering that about 95% of last year's GCOO sales of 53 billion won were from domestic PM sharing services, the future growth of GCOO's sales is expected to be even more promising.
Additionally, GBike is the first in the domestic PM sharing service industry to produce shared PMs in-house, and is planning to start the service from April.
GBike's CFO Sung-Ha Kim said, "We are confident that GCOO's uniqueness and technological prowess, which achieved success in Korea, will also prevail overseas. The global mobility industry has begun to marvel at our success and study our approach. This year marks GCOO's first year of global expansion, and it is the first year that a domestic shared PM will be introduced overseas. Based on this investment, we will continuously strive to expand our services and succeed in manufacturing to receive favorable evaluations in the stock market."
