This article was posted on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 2:50 p.m. Oct. 31, 2025.
NewRizen, a materials specialist that makes next-generation filters, has launched a challenge for a KOSDAQ market special technical listing. It recently entered the technical evaluation, known as the first hurdle for the special technical listing. Expectations have grown for financial investors (FI) such as IMM Investment, which invested in NewRizen earlier this year, to recover their investments.
According to the financial investment industry on the 31st, NewRizen applied this midmonth for a technical evaluation for a KOSDAQ market special technical listing. It aims to obtain ratings of A and BBB or higher from two professional evaluation agencies and to file for preliminary listing review early next year. Daishin Securities Co. is acting as the listing sponsor.
The special technical listing is a system that allows corporations that do not meet the listing financial requirements such as profit generation to list on the KOSDAQ market if they prove technological capabilities and growth potential. NewRizen is said to be aiming to enter the stock market by using estimated net income figures for 2027 after turning profitable next year.
NewRizen is a next-generation filter materials specialist founded in 2020 by CEO Lee Seung-wook, a former researcher in environmental facilities at a major company, with the goal of making high-performance HVAC filters. Its flagship product is the next-generation filter material DuraFilTex, which combines an electrostatic filtration layer with a 50nm-class nanofiltration layer.
DuraFilTex, a material that includes a nanofiltration layer capable of blocking pathogenic harmful substances, has advantages such as a longer replacement cycle and higher energy efficiency than existing filter materials like fiberglass, and has already been adopted as a filter material for semiconductor cleanrooms. LX Semicon was reported as a client company.
NewRizen has recently expanded its customer base to include pharmaceutical companies and cosmetic manufacturers, beginning to demonstrate growth potential. It has also built its own consumer brands, Area and Slone, and sells automotive air-conditioning filters, vent filters, and showerhead filters in addition to industrial filters.
Although it is pursuing a special technical listing, operating losses due to facility expansion are cited as a burden. According to the Small and Medium Business Status Information System, NewRizen's sales last year were 5.1 billion won, a large increase from 1.1 billion won the previous year. However, operating losses also rose from 1.8 billion won to 2.9 billion won over the same period.
The company is said to expect to turn profitable in the first half of next year. It used 13 billion won in new investment raised in March to expand facilities, achieving fixed cost dispersion and productivity improvements. Recently, it also began targeting overseas markets, including registering DuraFilTex intellectual property in China.
In the market, a valuation of more than 150 billion won has been mentioned for NewRizen after listing. In March, when NewRizen attracted a total of 13 billion won in pre-IPO funding from FIs including IMM Investment and Pureun Investment, it was understood to have already been valued at more than 80 billion won.
Meanwhile, FIs' expectations of recovering their investments are also high. Starting with pre-A investment from Series Ventures and others in its founding year of 2020, NewRizen has raised a cumulative 22 billion won. If it lists at a valuation of 150 billion won, it is expected that even the FIs that participated in the pre-IPO round will achieve returns of more than double.