Singapore-based Qoo10 aiming to raise US$50 mln as liquidity woes persist

The Singapore-based e-commerce platform Qoo10 Group, which owns the local online marketplaces TMON and WeMakePrice, is said to be seeking to raise US$50 million to address delays in payments by the two local platforms, according to sources familiar with the matter Sunday. TMON and WeMakePrice have failed to pay money earned by sellers in May, after Qoo10 Group was reportedly tipped into a tight cash situation over aggressive merger deals. Sellers on the online marketplaces have expressed frustration over the payment delays. According to the sources, Qoo10 told South Korean financial authorities that it would raise $50 million in August to address concerns over the payment delays. However, a senior official at the South Korean financial authorities said the proposed measure was insufficient. On Thursday, the financial and antitrust regulators launched joint on-site inspections into TMON and WeMakePrice over their delays in payments to sellers. Their payment delays sparked concerns about industrywide impa cts and potential damage to customers, and most of their 60,000 sellers were small merchants and the self-employed, who are relatively vulnerable to such risks. Lee Se-hoon, vice governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, told reporters that the value of payment delays by TMON and WeMakePrice was between 160 billion won and 170 billion won (US$115 million-US$122 million). Source: Yonhap News Agency