AI Semiconductors and Drones... 4th Industrial Revolution IPOs Restart After Slump

Furiosa AI, Soteria, Pablo Aviation, and Neus Lab IPOs Stretch Out
IPO Market Shows Signs of Change as Capital Market Sentiment Improves

As the previously contracted capital market gradually stretches, initial public offerings (IPOs) of companies in new industries such as drones and artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors are increasing again.

According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 20th, AI-based new technology companies such as PuriosaAI, Soteria, Pablo Aviation, and Nearslab have consecutively announced their IPO plans.

Nayuseok, Executive Director in charge of IPOs at Daishin Securities, said, "Companies in new industry sectors are preparing extensively for IPOs," adding, "Although the market atmosphere cannot be said to have fully revived, diligent movements are observed beneath the surface."

AI Semiconductor Companies Attracting Attention from Private Equity and Venture Capital Prepare for Consecutive Listings

PuriosaAI, which has attracted significant attention from private equity and venture capital industries, is completing its Series C funding this month and proceeding with IPO preparations. PuriosaAI, an AI semiconductor fabless startup, is the first among peer startups such as Rebellion and Sapeon to challenge an IPO. Recently, PuriosaAI sent out requests for proposal to major domestic securities firms and has started full-scale preparations for listing. On the 29th, major securities firms will hold presentations to select the lead underwriter.

Founded in 2017, PuriosaAI is a company gaining attention in the domestic AI semiconductor field alongside Rebellion and Sapeon. In 2021, it launched the first-generation AI chip Warboy and began mass production. It is currently preparing to release the second-generation chip. PuriosaAI's CEO, Baek Junho, majored in electrical and electronic engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology in the U.S., worked on the GPU team at the American semiconductor company AMD, and spent four years at Samsung Electronics' memory division. AI semiconductors have recently become one of the major themes moving not only the domestic but also the global stock markets. This is because the demand for related semiconductors surged with the full-fledged AI boom around 2022.

Soteria, another AI semiconductor company, is also moving forward with an IPO. Compared to PuriosaAI and Rebellion, Soteria still needs more time to generate substantial cash flow but is evaluated to have great growth potential. Soteria has selected NH Investment & Securities as the lead underwriter and has begun full-scale IPO preparations. Founded in 2018 by former Georgia Tech professor Kim Jongman and researchers from Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, the startup focuses on developing ultra-low power AI semiconductors and Compute Express Link (CXL)-based near data processing (NDP) memory solutions. It plans to start mass production of semiconductors using Samsung's 4-nanometer process this year. Soteria is the first domestic AI semiconductor fabless company to achieve a Samsung Electronics 4-nanometer single tape-out (transition from chipset design to production stage).

Next-Generation Drone Companies Leading with Technology Also Actively Preparing for Listings

Drone companies are also actively preparing for listings. Pablo Aviation has selected Daishin Securities as the lead underwriter and is preparing to enter the market within the year. Pablo Aviation is known for its strength in swarm flight, possessing technology that controls numerous drones to move simultaneously. It is evaluated as a company with excellent control systems, which is a core technology for urban air mobility (UAM) businesses. Pablo Aviation has independently developed the UAM traffic management platform 'UrbanLinkX' and 'Firework Drone' used in drone shows for performances. The company gained attention as former SM Entertainment CEO Lee Soo-man was an early investor. In January 2019, Lee invested 1 billion KRW in Pablo Aviation's seed funding and also participated in the pre-IPO investment conducted in October last year. Pablo Aviation successfully raised 21 billion KRW in pre-IPO funding after completing Series A and Series B rounds. The accumulated investment amount is 43 billion KRW, recognizing a corporate value of 150 billion KRW. Lee is the second-largest shareholder after CEO Kim Youngjun, who holds 30%. Other major investors in Pablo Aviation include Korea Development Bank, BeHigh Investment, Kiwoom Asset Management, Daishin Securities, SBI Investment, Xplore Investment, Woori Venture Partners, and Shinhan Venture Investment.

Nearslab, an AI-based autonomous drone company, has also selected Samsung Securities as the lead underwriter and is pushing for an IPO within the year. It collects and analyzes data with autonomous flight drones to provide information usable on-site. Its applications include wind power generation, social infrastructure, and autonomous flight research and development fields. Founded in 2015 by CEO Choi Daehyuk and CTO Jung Youngseok, both graduates of KAIST's Department of Aerospace Engineering, Nearslab holds a dominant position in the market for inspecting wind turbine blades. Since last year, it has also ventured into defense projects. In line with the global trend of strengthening unmanned power, it developed a small autonomous flight drone body. The multi-purpose small autonomous flight AI drone 'Aiden' was unveiled for the first time at CES 2024, attracting market attention.