Karrot, a super app from South Korea, offers a wide range of services—from buying and selling goods to hosting job and real estate listings, all with integrated payment solutions.
The Karrot community, which boasts more than 30 million users worldwide, first launched in Canada in 2022.
Recently, the Korean company revealed that its online marketplace-driven community now has more than one million Canadians.
And in addition to unveiling that milestone, Karrot also stated ambitions to bolster its Canadian offices in Toronto and Vancouver as part of a broader expansion across North America.
“Our North American division aims to expand our communities across the U.S. and Canada,” the company stated online, “starting with Toronto, Vancouver, and New York City.”
Robert Kim, cofounder of Toronto commerce startups GoodGood and Ritual, joined Karrot early last year as chief as the company’s North American operations.
Karrot’s Canadian team is still small, but Kim intends to change that.
The CEO informed BetaKit that in order to support continental expansion, Karrot plans to firm up its foothold in Canada by establishing an engineering hub in Toronto.
“Karrot has done an amazing job of connecting neighbourhoods within Korea, and the dream is to do that across the globe,” Kim said to BK.
The Toronto-based tech talent hub, targeted to be around 20 people in size, will have a focus on mobile and artificial intelligence talent and serve Karrot’s growth throughout North America.
The Korean tech firm last raised capital in 2021 through a US$162 million Series D round of financing that valued the unicorn at nearly US$2.7B.
Karrot was founded in 2015.
