[IPO] Saltware "Growing Smart Farm Business with Technology + Cost Competitiveness"

Lee Jung-geun, CEO of Saltware, is introducing the company at a press conference held on the 30th in Yeouido, Seoul. / Photo by Jang Hyo-won

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hyowon] “We plan to grow the smart farm business as the company’s next-generation growth engine through technology and cost competitiveness that hold a unique advantage over competitors.”

On the 30th, Lee Seonghee, Executive Director of Saltware, held a press conference in Yeouido, Seoul, ahead of the company’s KOSDAQ SPAC listing, and revealed the company’s vision.

Saltware is a company that provides cloud and infrastructure construction services. Its flagship brand is ‘FitCloud,’ a service platform that solves corporate IT concerns in a one-stop manner. The business model is based on revenue from cloud construction and operation fees.

Based on long-term partnerships with global cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and IBM, Saltware helps build customized cloud systems for each client and provides operation, maintenance, and management services. Its clients number around 450, including public institutions, universities, financial companies, and general enterprises.

Saltware plans to capture SMB (small and medium-sized business) customers with its ‘Intelligent FitCloud Hybrid Management Platform’ in response to the increasing use of ‘hybrid cloud services’ that utilize both public clouds like Amazon and Naver and the company’s own private cloud services.

Executive Director Lee said, “Saltware operates dedicated teams for each SMB industry based on extensive infrastructure SI (system integration) experience, supporting a one-stop service system specialized in meeting companies’ cost reduction needs.” He explained, “Specifically, we segment our customer targets into seven categories?game, finance, media, IT, commerce, healthcare, and edutech?and provide optimized services accordingly.”

Saltware is focusing on the ‘smart farm’ business as a future growth engine in addition to cloud services. Since 2010, it has conducted urban plant cultivation research projects for the Seoul Metropolitan Government and continuously invested in R&D to secure various patents and know-how on core technologies.

In 2019, Saltware also succeeded in a smart farm pilot project in Qatar. Through this, it is exporting smart farm equipment and solutions to Middle Eastern countries. The company has begun productizing the researched technologies and currently has prototypes of smart farm environmental monitoring devices and actuator control products, accumulating delivery records to domestic smart farm farms.

Executive Director Lee stated, “We expect the smart farm business to show visible results starting in 2022,” adding, “We plan to commercialize DIY-type smart farm devices that can be easily monitored and managed in a mobile environment, enabling farmers to easily access smart farms.”

Meanwhile, Saltware will be listed on the KOSDAQ market through a merger with Mirae Asset Daewoo SPAC No.3. The merger date is August 3, and the merged new shares are scheduled to be listed on the KOSDAQ market on August 22. The merger ratio is 1 to 20.5605, and the total number of merged new shares is 31,894,778.