Top 100 unlisted companies in Korea have reaped four times bigger revenue over the last three years, with pioneering online grocery marketplace Kurly standing out with sales ballooning by 20-fold on online shopping boom.

The top 100 unlisted companies earned combined 20.4 trillion won ($17.7 billion) in sales last year, versus 4.8 trillion won recorded in 2017, according to Seoul-based business tracker CEO Score on Wednesday. The top 100 was picked from 11,524 privately held companies that are not classified under the country’s large business group category. All 100 firms had annual sales average above 10 billion won from 2018 to 2020.

Businesses engaged in distribution services showed the fastest growth with their combined sales skyrocketing to 1.6 trillion won last year from 263.3 billion won earned in 2017.

Next was the household goods sector, recording sales jump to 1.2 trillion won from 220.8 billion won. Personal service sector saw combined sales surge 396.9 percent, pharma/biotech 365.6 percent, automotive and parts 347.7 percent, and textile/clothing 316 percent over the same three-year period.

By company, Kurly, operator behind the country’s major online grocery store Market Kurly, topped the list with sales shooting up to 950.9 billion won last year from 46.6 billion made in 2017. BioNote, a veterinary diagnostics kit maker, trailed closely behind with sales 631.3 billion won soaring from 33.1 billion.

The combined assets of the top 100 fastest-growing companies amounted to 15.7 trillion won in 2020, more than doubled from 7.0 trillion won in 2018.

By Cho Jeehyun

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]