WantedLab Submits Securities Registration Statement... Scheduled for Listing in August

Hope Public Offering Band 28,000 KRW~35,000 KRW

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jong-hwa] WantedLab Co., Ltd., an AI-based recruitment platform company, announced on the 23rd that it has submitted a securities registration statement for listing on the KOSDAQ market and is entering the full-scale initial public offering (IPO) process.

Founded in 2015, WantedLab introduced the recruitment platform 'Wanted,' implementing online referral and headhunting services, leading changes in the market. Recently, it has been providing data-driven recruitment services using an artificial intelligence (AI) engine to predict applicants' acceptance outcomes. It is analyzed that using AI recommendations increases the acceptance rate by more than four times.

WantedLab's sales grew sharply with a compound annual growth rate of 107%, increasing from 3.4 billion KRW in 2018 to 14.7 billion KRW in 2020. Especially in 2020, as the non-face-to-face recruitment market was activated due to COVID-19, sales exceeded 10 billion KRW for the first time since its establishment. WantedLab's sales in the first quarter of this year increased by 93% year-on-year to 5.7 billion KRW, and operating profit turned positive at 400 million KRW.

The company is also actively expanding services to meet changes in supply and demand in the recruitment market. WantedLab is expanding its business areas by providing freelance matching service 'Wanted Gigs,' and job-related education and lecture content subscription service 'WantedPlus.' In particular, it acquired the one-stop HR platform 'Commonspace' to strengthen HR services for enterprises.

Lee Bok-gi, CEO of WantedLab, said, "WantedLab, which has been steadily growing since its launch in 2015, is showing even faster growth as non-face-to-face recruitment becomes more active," adding, "Through the KOSDAQ listing, we will enhance external credibility and become a total career platform that works not only in the domestic market but also in the global market."

WantedLab plans to offer a total of 730,000 shares through this IPO. The expected public offering price range is 28,000 KRW to 35,000 KRW, with an expected offering amount of 20.4 billion KRW to 25.6 billion KRW. The lead underwriter is Korea Investment & Securities, and the listing is scheduled for August.