Startups Aiming to Go Public Abroad
A total of 10 South Korean startups attracted an investment of at least 100 billion won each between January and July this year. For reference, the number stood at four in 2020 as a whole. Half of the 10 startups are aiming to go public abroad.
The 10 include Yanolja, IYUNO Media and Riiid, which have received an investment from SoftBank. Noom has its headquarters in the United States and is planning to go public on Nasdaq.
Toss, Kurly and Musinsa are weighing KOSDAQ against overseas stock markets. Specifically, Toss is expected to go public in South Korea or Hong Kong and Kurly and Musinsa are likely to do so in South Korea or the United States. Although the chance of success is lower abroad, overseas IPO can be more attractive in terms of valuation and investment returns. The South Korean government is working on incentives for more IPOs at home and the effect of the incentives is drawing attention as well.
The CEOs of eight out of the 10 startups were born in the 1980s. The other two were born in the 1970s. The 10 startups also include TMON, Terraform Labs and Sendbird. Most of the investments are Series D, E and G.