South Korea's second-hand trading platform Daangn (formerly Karrot) has expanded its "Baro-Gumae" (direct purchase, i.e., in-app ordering with home delivery) and Daangn Pay escrow settlement services nationwide. Leveraging AI listing tools and annual "Daangn Festival" shipping subsidies, the volume of transactions completed through this method has grown approximately 90 times compared to when the service first launched. A secondary share sale completed in August valued the company at approximately 2.7 trillion KRW; on a consolidated basis for 2025, revenue was 270.7 billion KRW and operating profit was 14.6 billion KRW.

Key Points

  • Baro-Gumae transaction volume grew approximately 90 times compared to launch; by 2026 the service coverage has expanded nationwide; on "Daangn Festival" day, transaction volume rose 141% versus a typical Saturday, with buyer and seller counts up 72% and 85% respectively.
  • 2025 consolidated revenue was 270.7 billion KRW and operating profit was 14.6 billion KRW, with 190 million neighborhood transactions connected through the platform over the year.
  • A secondary share sale completed in August valued the company at approximately 2.7 trillion KRW, with investors including TS Investment.

Public information shows that Daangn is a local community-based second-hand trading platform that started in Bundang District, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province (originally referred to as "Pangyo," in the Seongnam area of Gyeonggi Province). Its early differentiating approach was to limit the trading radius to nearby communities, require users to inspect goods face-to-face offline, and to some extent discourage anonymity, in order to reduce fraud risk in delivery-based transactions. Investment firm Capstone Partners noticed in 2016 that user browsing behavior differed from another free trading forum, "Junggonara": some users logged in 24 days a month and stayed about 20 minutes per session, using the platform in a browsing manner, which was seen as evidence of the platform's scalability.

On the funding timeline, Capstone Partners invested 500 million KRW in December 2016, with K Cube Ventures and Strong Ventures participating as early investors, totaling 1.3 billion KRW among the three. In 2018, Series B added SoftBank Ventures and Kakao Ventures, with existing investors following on. In 2019, Series C was led by Alto Ventures and Goodwater Capital, investing 40 billion KRW. In 2021, Series D was led by Goodwater Capital and others with multiple existing shareholders participating, raising a total of 178.9 billion KRW at a valuation of 3 trillion KRW.

In terms of transaction methods and tools, "Baro-Gumae," launched in September 2025, supports in-app payment and delivery receipt, with Daangn Pay's escrow settlement rule being that funds are released to the seller only after the buyer confirms receipt; combined with activities such as shipping subsidies, transaction growth has been significant. The platform has also added features on the selling side: after taking a photo, AI provides an estimated selling price and writes the product name and description, and when sellers upload multiple item photos in bulk, category-specific posts can be automatically generated, thereby lowering the listing barrier.

For the second-hand clothing and used goods resale industry, the platform's trajectory shows that once escrow settlement and supporting logistics are in place, the barrier to non-face-to-face transactions will drop markedly, and the growth rate of second-hand trading can break through from "product scope limitations" to nationwide supply.