Filed for court rehabilitation (July 2024) amid a liquidity crisis; sister platform WeMakePrice was later ruled bankrupt; ~$613M+ owed to merchants.
The rise & fall
7 moments Β· 2010β2024
The key moments.
2010
π±
2010
Founded as Ticket Monster
One of South Korea's pioneering daily-deals sites, born in the Groupon-clone gold rush.
Wikipedia
2015
2015
KKR and Anchor buy control
A ~$782M deal hands the platform to private equity.
Korea Herald
2018
π
2018
The peak: a $1.3B e-commerce unicorn$1.3B
TMON crosses the $1B line at the height of Korea's e-commerce land grab.
Korea Herald
2022
2022
Qoo10 buys TMON
Singapore's Qoo10 adds TMON to an aggressive acquisition spree β the debt-fueled shopping trip that later brings everything down.
Korea Herald
Jul 2024
Jul 2024
Payments to merchants stop
TMON and sister platform WeMakePrice abruptly stop paying vendors: more than 800 billion won (~$613M) owed to some 60,000 sellers.
Korea Times
Jul 2024
πͺ¦
Jul 2024
Court rehabilitation β joins the Unitard Club π
The $486M raised over its lifetime is wiped out in one of the biggest collapses in Korean e-commerce history; WeMakePrice is later ruled bankrupt outright.
Korea Times
$1.3Bof peak value erased Β· 14 years
How it happened
TMON (Ticket Monster) was one of South Korea's pioneering e-commerce platforms, a deals-and-marketplace unicorn that passed through LivingSocial, Groupon and then KKR and Anchor Equity ownership before being acquired by Singapore's Qoo10.
In July 2024 TMON and its sister platform WeMakePrice abruptly stopped paying merchants amid a liquidity crunch tied to Qoo10's aggressive acquisitions; the two owed vendors more than 800 billion won (~$613M), affecting some 60,000 sellers.
Both filed for court rehabilitation, WeMakePrice was later ruled bankrupt, and TMON's value was wiped out β one of the biggest collapses in Korean e-commerce history.
Source: Korea Herald / Korea Times / The Register (Korean e-commerce unicorn, ~$782M KKR/Anchor deal 2015, ~$1.2-1.3B peak; acquired by Qoo10; July 2024 liquidity crisis, court rehabilitation, ~818.8B won/$613M unpaid to ~60,000 vendors)
Where they went
RK
Ryu Kwang-jin
CEO (at collapse)
β
Not on record
Daniel Shin
founder & CEO (founded it in 2010 on a 5m-won budget; chairman until 2017)
