This article was published on April 18, 2025, at 5:14 p.m. on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove site.
A rush for initial public offerings (IPOs) of artificial intelligence (AI) technology startups has begun. This surge is attributed to the growing demand for AI across various industries, coupled with support from government policies, which has increased investor interest. The upcoming June rose election has also seen a flood of AI-related pledges, seen as a positive development.
According to the financial investment industry on the 18th, four AI technology startups have applied for preliminary listing reviews with the Korea Exchange this year, or plan to do so in the first half. Specifically, Neurophet and S2W applied for reviews, while Nota and Maymust have set their application dates for next month and June, respectively.
Last year, there were only six. This figure is based on classifications for corporations engaged in software development and supply, labeling AI-related services as major products. Last year, among the AI technology startups that positioned AI services as their main product, only three passed the IPO threshold at the Korea Exchange.
Companies specializing in AI-based robot solutions, such as CMES, the operator of industrial AI services Simplatform, and the AI analytics platform operator NeuennAI, successfully passed. Last year, only CMES went public. Simplatform is set to go public this year, while NeuennAI is preparing for its public offering process. Other companies, including MakinaRocks, ONE4U, and AIMMO, withdrew voluntarily due to market downturns.
As demand for AI spreads across industries, analysts suggest that investors' perspectives have shifted, leading to this year's rush for IPO challenges. Notably, all AI technology startups attempting IPOs this year have been supplying their AI-based services to corporations and government agencies, generating revenue.
In particular, Nota has secured clients including NVIDIA, ARM, Samsung Electronics, and Qualcomm by promoting optimization technology that maintains the accuracy of high-performance AI models while minimizing computational demands. They also provided AI voice recognition solutions, achieving a consolidated revenue of 8.4 billion won last year, which is a 136% increase compared to the previous year.
The growing expectation of benefiting from policies is also cited as a factor encouraging IPO challenges for AI technology startups. The government has initiated policy support by organizing a supplementary budget of 1.8 trillion won for the AI sector, and presidential candidates have announced AI-related pledges, such as a 100 trillion won investment.
Related companies' stock prices have risen due to the expectations of policy benefits. Simplatform, an AI Internet of Things (AIoT) platform company, is a prime example. Having passed the preliminary examination in December last year, Simplatform went public last month and rose for seven consecutive trading days, bolstered by expectations for benefits from AI regulation improvement policies presented by the Democratic Party of Korea.
A source in the securities industry noted, "As AI permeates across industries, profitable AI technology startups are emerging one after another," adding that "considering the many companies that withdrew from IPOs last year due to unfavorable domestic market conditions, this year's IPO challenges for AI technology companies are likely to increase even more."