Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) has invested $71.4 million or 100 billion Korean won in the South Korean apparel brand Ably Corp.

What Happened: Ably is now South Korea's first unicorn of 2024, with the deal valuing the company at over $1 billion, as per a report by The Korean Economic Daily.

Following the investment, Ably's valuation has soared to around 3 trillion won (approx. $2.1 billion), a significant increase from its 900 billion won valuation during its 67 billion won pre-Series C fundraising round in January 2022.

Why It Matters: This deal marks the first equity investment by China-based Alibaba in any Korean shopping app.

Ably is the first Korean startup to reach a valuation of over $1 billion this year, following Naver Corp.'s Kream Corp., which achieved a 1 trillion won valuation in December 2023 after completing a bridge round financing.

As per its 13F filings for the third quarter, Alibaba holds stakes in XPeng Inc. (NYSE:XPEV), Weibo Corp. (NASDAQ:WB), Perfect Corp. (NYSE:PERF), and Best Inc. (NYSE:BEST) in the U.S.

Alibaba increased its stake in XPeng by 371% in the September 2024 quarter compared to the June 2024 quarter. During the same period, it reduced its stake in Perfect by 2%, while its Weibo and Best stakes remained unchanged.

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Price Action: Shares of Alibaba Group Holdings' ADR closed 0.90% higher at $87.37 per share on Friday as compared to a 0.31% advance in the NYSE Composite Index.

According to Benzinga Pro data, Alibaba has a consensus price target of $119.82 apiece based on the ratings of 23 analysts, but a consensus rating of "Buy." The highest price target among all the analysts tracked by Benzinga is $155 per share issued by Deutsche Bank on Jan. 13, 2023, whereas the lowest price target is $85 apiece issued by Bernstein on Aug. 16.

The average price target of $122 per share between Barclays, Benchmark, and Mizuho implies a 39.64% upside for Alibaba.