This article was posted on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 4:11 p.m. on Sept. 17, 2025.
As freelance platform Kmong attempts to enter the stock market through the so-called Tesla exception, concerns are rising that an overvalued price tag and the risk of an overhang (large potential sell-off volume) could trip it up. Financial investors (FI) hold a very large share, and Kmong's target corporate valuation is higher than market expectations.
According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 17th, Kmong filed a preliminary review with the Korea Exchange last month to list on the KOSDAQ. Kmong plans to complete the listing by early next year at the latest. The planned number of shares to be offered is 1.82 million, which is 15.5% of the expected number of listed shares (11,730,377). Samsung Securities is the lead underwriter.
Kmong has not turned a profit, so it is attempting a KOSDAQ listing through the profit non-realization exception known as the "Tesla exception." This system has mainly been used as a means for platform corporations that are unprofitable but showing revenue growth to enter the stock market.
The problem is Kmong's corporate valuation. Because it was valued at 210 billion won at its last funding round in the 2021 pre-IPO, it must enter the market at a valuation at least that high, but conditions are unfavorable. At that time Kmong was granted a price-to-sales ratio (PSR) of about 15 times based on the previous year's revenue (11.4 billion won).
However, that valuation was created when liquidity was abundant after COVID-19 and expectations for platform corporations were high. With the bubble burst, it is hard to receive the same multiple now. Considering that even e-commerce platform Coupang, regarded as a domestic platform powerhouse, had a PSR of 5.2 times at its Nasdaq listing based on the offering price, Kmong is considerably overvalued.
Applying the valuations of global freelance platforms, Kmong's fair corporate valuation is around 130 billion won. Kmong posted 49.7 billion won in revenue last year, but an operating loss of 800 million won and a net loss of 6.7 billion won. The average PSR of Upwork and Fiverr, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and Freelancer.com, listed on the Australian exchange, is 2.6 times.
A high FI proportion is also a burden. As of the end of last year, Kmong's largest shareholder was co-CEO and founder Park Hyun-ho with only a 26% stake. The remaining 74% is all FI equity. Since its founding in 2012, cumulative investment amounts to 48 billion won. Because FIs ultimately need to recover their investments, they are likely to weigh on share prices after listing.
Major FIs holding Kmong equity include Altos Ventures (18%), InterVest (10%), and Daum Youth Startup Investment Association (9%). Recently listed orthodontic device manufacturer Graphy also saw a sharp share price drop because the proportion of freely tradable shares on the listing day reached 37.74%. Its current share price is about 40% below the offering price.
Founded in 2012, Kmong is a freelance brokerage platform that connects experts in various fields such as design, information technology (IT) and marketing with corporations and individuals who need those services.