This article was posted on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 4:38 p.m. on Oct. 13, 2025.
Nara Space Technology, an aerospace startup regarded as the country's only commercial operator of ultra-small observation satellites, has begun the initial public offering process for listing on the KOSDAQ market. It has been exactly 10 years since a 20-something graduate student in astronomy and space science gathered nearby university students and graduate students to start the company.
The offered valuation for the listing is up to 190 billion won. This contrasts with earlier aerospace startups that proposed valuations exceeding 300 billion won. The company limited comparable firms to domestic ones and applied a 20% present value discount rate to projected net profit two years out. It appears to have chosen a "compromise" amid investor avoidance of aerospace stocks.
According to the financial investment industry, Nara Space filed a securities registration statement with the Financial Services Commission on Sept. 26, formalizing the KOSDAQ listing process. That came a week after receiving preliminary listing approval from the Korea Exchange KOSDAQ Market Division on Sept. 19, and Samsung Securities was appointed as the lead underwriter.
The company plans to raise all 1.72 million shares as new shares in this offering. The proposed offering price range, or band, was set at 13,100 won to 16,500 won. Based on the top of the band, the offering size is 28.4 billion won and the post-listing market capitalization is estimated at 190 billion won. Institutional investor book-building will be held for five days starting Oct. 30.
Nara Space was founded in 2015 by CEO Park Jae-pil, who was a graduate student in astronomy and space science. The business began with the goal of domesticating satellite components and has since transformed into an integrated aerospace solutions company that performs not only component production but also the manufacture of satellite buses under 100 kg, satellite operation, image sales and data analysis.
Nara Space secured a "space heritage," the benchmark for verified space environment technology, in Nov. 2023. Its 16U-class (about 20 kg) high-resolution optical satellite "Observer-1A" was successfully launched in Nov. 2023. It was the world's seventh 16U-class space heritage and the only one in Korea.
Since securing the space heritage, Nara Space's performance has risen sharply. Revenue, which was 1 billion won in 2022 and 1.6 billion won in 2023, jumped to 4.3 billion won last year. With continued satellite manufacturing contracts from Hanwha System and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), first-half revenue this year surpassed 7.5 billion won.
Riding steep revenue growth, Nara Space estimated a corporate value of 190 billion won, forecasting it will return to profit next year. It projected a net income turnaround to a 5.9 billion won profit next year and 8.2 billion won in net profit in 2027, taking 5.4 billion won as the basis after applying a 20% present value discount to the latter.
Lead underwriter Samsung Securities specifically selected Satrec Initiative and Asia Pacific Satellite as comparable companies and applied an average price-earnings ratio of 45.74 to the present value of 5.4 billion won in 2027 net profit. The evaluated market cap was about 242 billion won, and applying discount rates of 21.63% to 37.78% produced valuation figures between 151 billion won and 190 billion won.
Analysts say it is unusual for an aerospace startup to propose a listing valuation below 200 billion won. Since expectations for a "new space era," where the private sector succeeds government-led space industry efforts, spread in 2023, aerospace startups that attempted listings sometimes proposed valuations exceeding 400 billion won.
Nara Space's adjusted valuation is seen as reflecting the reality of aerospace stocks. CONTEC, a first-generation aerospace startup that attempted to list in Sept. 2023, proposed a post-listing valuation of up to 323.8 billion won, but its current market cap is about 134 billion won, less than half the target market cap.
Also, last year aerospace startup Lumir, which makes satellite systems and avionics, targeted 360 billion won, and launch vehicle maker INNOSPACE aimed for 430 billion won, but both saw their market caps cut in half. They faced criticism for high valuations, failed to draw interest in the offering itself, and their share prices subsequently languished.
Financial investors also stepped back amid concerns over offering success. Nara Space raised a 33.5 billion won Series B round in May last year from Shinhan Venture Investment and Hi Investment Partners, among others. Considering the company was valued at 116 billion won at the time of that investment, the gap with the band's lower-end valuation is about 30%.
The securities registration statement also shows signs of efforts by Nara Space and lead underwriter Samsung Securities to lower the valuation. Nara Space plans to operate observation satellites in clusters and sell observation imagery, but by using 2027, when satellite manufacturing revenue is high, as the valuation reference, it reduced concerns.
At the time of the preliminary listing review, the company excluded global aerospace firms such as Spire Global and BlackSky from comparables. The population selection criteria in the valuation process already limited comparables to domestic listed companies, selecting only two KOSDAQ-listed firms, Satrec Initiative and Asia Pacific Satellite, as comparable companies.
However, questions about demand remain. Investor avoidance continues as the growth of the aerospace industry has fallen short of expectations. Although the post-listing market cap was lowered to the 190 billion won range, the PER multiple of 45.7 is also a burden because it is higher than the PER multiples at listing for CONTEC (32) and Lumir (28).
The head of an asset management firm that mainly invests in initial public offerings said, "Although CONTEC and Lumir, which have similar business structures, presented lower multiples than Nara Space and still suffered post-offering share price weakness after failing to attract demand, a 45-times multiple makes participation in book-building a matter to consider."