The next-day grocery delivery service Market Kurly that 38-year-old Kim founded is now one of South Korea's most important startup unicorns, last valued at US$3 billion and set for an initial public offering by February.

Kim, a self-professed "foodie," came up with the idea after she got tired of endlessly going from shop to shop to find the high-quality groceries she wanted in Seoul's supermarkets.

But she knew the products were out there and began driving to South Korea's agricultural heartlands to find them, for example visiting the famous meat market in Majang-dong to procure half a cow's worth of beef, which she would then split with her co-workers.

"While I was trying to figure out why it was so difficult to have access to great quality, fresh food in Korea, I got to know some farmers and fishermen and they had exactly the same issue of not being able to find customers," she told AFP.

Korean farmers "are proud of the fact that they can produce such nice quality products, but it is extremely difficult for them to get to the consumer," she said.

At first, Kim said she thought about setting up a farmers market, before abandoning the idea as too unwieldy and – more importantly – unhelpful for producers, who don't have the time to travel to Seoul.

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