GOPIZZA Secures $10 Million Investment from Thailand’s Leading Conglomerate CP Group
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Jaewon Lim, CEO of GOPIZZA
Food technology company GOPIZZA has secured a $10 million (KRW 13.6 billion) investment from CP ALL, the core distribution arm of Thailand’s CP Group.
This latest investment from a major international company follows GOPIZZA’s $18.2 million (KRW 2.5 billion) Series C investment in 2022 from GS Ventures, CJ Investment and other major corporations, bringing the company’s cumulative investment to approximately $43.5 million (KRW 6 billion).
CP Group, Thailand’s richest conglomerate with a market capitalisation of over $14.5 billion (KRW 200 trillion), is the world’s largest shrimp producer, the world’s third largest poultry producer, and is a global company that started in the animal feed business nearly 100 years ago and has since expanded into distribution, telecommunications, finance, pharmaceuticals, real estate and more. In South Korea, the company’s profile was raised in 2022 when the great-granddaughter of Korean independence activist Kim Koo married the son of the chairman of CP Group. The investment is expected to play an important role in accelerating GOPIZZA’s growth in Thailand, where its core subsidiary CP ALL Group operates various retail channels, including 7-Eleven convenience stores and Lotus supermarkets.
The investment, which is the first overseas startup investment in CP ALL’s history, was driven by GOPIZZA’s rapid growth in the Southeast Asian market based on its products and technology, as well as its explosive scalability through successful partnerships with large corporations such as GS25 and CGV. The investment discussions, which took place over the course of 18 months, reportedly involved CP Group Chairman Sooparkij Chearavnont, who took a keen interest in the company from product demonstrations to the opening of the initial Thai store. GOPIZZA has already concluded a number of specific cooperation discussions with CP Group’s affiliates and is moving forward with its business in Thailand.
With more than 450 stores in seven countries, GOPIZZA has managed to turn its domestic subsidiary into a profit and has built a solid capability ahead of the full collaboration with CP Group, including the opening of more than 1,000 additional stores in GS25 by the end of the year. The company’s strategy is to continue to partner with global groups to develop new business opportunities. It is indeed very unusual and encouraging for an early stage Korean restaurant company to attract such a large foreign corporate investment.
Jaewon Lim, CEO of GOPIZZA, said: ‘Through long-term investment discussions with overseas conglomerates, we have learned a lot about what it takes to be a truly global company. By actively working with CP Group, we will continue to grow beyond Korea and Thailand to become the most accessible and proud Korean pizza brand in the world,’ he added.
GOPIZZA, which opened its first store in Thailand in December 2023, has exceeded expectations with its first store, Sukhumvit 50, and opened its second store in Thailand, Cosmo Bazzar, in April this year. Based on GOPIZZA’s unique overseas expansion strategy, which includes establishing a wholly-owned subsidiary in Thailand, directly managing local stores and hiring local experts as corporate managers, the company announced plans to expand the number of Thai stores to 20 by the end of the year. GOPIZZA currently operates 450 stores in seven countries, including Thailand, India, Singapore and Indonesia, and plans to exceed 1,200 stores worldwide by the end of the year through its partnership with GS25.