Wallapop taken over by South Korean Naver

The second-hand shopping market continues to grow and the attention for companies in the sector is increasing accordingly. Proof of this is the acquisition by the South Korean internet giant Naver of Wallapop, the Spanish platform for conscious consumption. Naver, already a shareholder in the company since 2021, valued the company at €600 million with a post-money valuation of around €650 million. The transaction, according to the note, is supported by a large majority of the company's shareholders and is expected to be completed in the coming months, after the relevant regulatory approvals are obtained.

However, if one looks back at the EUR 81 million early 2023 round, the valuation is not increasing. At that time, in fact, the Series G financing round, led by Korelya Capital, a late-stage European venture fund, and backed by Naver, in which Accel, 14W and Insight also participated, had valued the company €771 million.

For Naver, the acquisition represents an important step in its strategy to strengthen its presence in Europe. "Naver is founded on the principle of creating an open and diverse Internet with multiple players. The partnership with Wallapop perfectly reflects this objective and testifies to our great confidence in the potential of the European startup ecosystem and our desire to contribute to its growth. Our goal is to preserve Wallapop's unique identity and enhance it with our technological capabilities, so that it can continue to be a market leader and expand its impact throughout Southern Europe,' commented Soo-yeon Choi, CEO of the South Korean company.

Naver has made a number of strategic investments around the world. In 2023, it acquired Poshmark, a US-based C2C online re-commerce company for fashion, home goods and electronics. In Europe, it has invested over EUR 500 million in 30 portfolio companies, including 8 unicorns. In 2017, the company acquired the Xerox research centre in Grenoble, France, now called Naver Labs Europe. The centre has become a key part of its global R&S ecosystem, engaging in a continuous exchange of technologies.

Founded in Barcelona in 2013, Wallapop connects a community of 19 million people - who collectively create more than 100 million listings per year - who find an easy and convenient way to buy and sell items that are no longer used. The company ended 2024 by breaking even on operations in the Spanish market and surpassing 100 million euros in revenue. Wallapop expects revenues and profitability to reach record levels in 2025. In an average year, Wallapop users generate sales worth between EUR 2 and 2.5 billion, while generating a significant positive environmental impact. By buying and selling second-hand rather than new products, users collectively helped save 467,000 tonnes of CO2 in 2024 alone - the equivalent of eliminating all traffic in Barcelona for six months of the year.