What began 12 years ago in Barcelona as a second-hand buying and selling platform is now integrated into the technological empire of South Korea's Naver. The Seoul-based company has acquired Wallapop in an operation that values the Catalan startup at 600 million euros.
Until the operation, Naver has been an indirect financial investor in Wallapop since February 2021, through C-Fund, a private equity investment fund independently managed by Korelya Capital. Since then, it has held 29.5% of the capital of the second-hand trading platform, and now Naver acquires the remaining 70.5%.
The transaction aims to accelerate Wallapop's growth and its leadership in Southern Europe, where it connects more than 19 million people monthly. As for Naver, the acquisition will expand its presence in e-commerce in Europe, complementing an activity that includes South Korea's leading search engine and the Line messaging app.
After its acquisition, Wallapop will continue to operate from its headquarters in Barcelona, where it was founded in 2013 by Agustín Gómez, Miquel Vicente, and Gerard Olivé. It will continue to do so with Rob Cassedy as CEO, and maintaining both its staff and its brand.
In this regard, Naver's will is to "preserve Wallapop's unique identity and enhance the platform with the company's technological capabilities so that it can continue to lead the market and expand its impact in Southern Europe," according to the South Korean CEO, Soo-yeon Choi.
From Wallapop, Cassedy argues that being part of Naver will allow combining the Asian company's technological expertise and its knowledge of peer-to-peer commerce to "boost Wallapop's journey and accelerate its growth and innovation in Southern Europe."
Discrepancies among shareholders
With the operation, which had the financial advice of J.P. Morgan, Wallapop's valuation has been set at 600 million euros, the same amount it has raised in investment since its creation 12 years ago. The transaction has closed not without disagreements among the shareholders of the Catalan company, especially from the venture capital firm 14W, which until now held 18% of the platform.
Despite these discrepancies, according to the company, "the agreement has the support of the vast majority of shareholders" and will be completed in the coming months, once the necessary regulatory authorizations are obtained.
"We are prepared to play an even more important role in the future of re-commerce," Cassedy proclaimed. Wallapop does so at a time of record figures for the startup, which closed 2024 achieving profitability in its operations in the Spanish market and with a global turnover of 100 million euros. The startup, which also operates in Italy and Portugal, expects its turnover and profitability to reach record levels in 2025.
The company hopes to accelerate this growth by placing itself under the umbrella of Naver, which in 20224 reported revenues of 7.27 billion euros. The company is the fifth largest listed company in Korea, and has invested in companies such as the US peer-to-peer commerce company Poshmark, and in some thirty European companies —including eight unicorns—, with more than 500 million euros. With a global presence, it has more than 15,700 employees worldwide, to whom Wallapop's 300 employees from Barcelona will now be added.