NH Investment & Securities Signs IPO Underwriting Agreement with FRT Robotics

FRT Robotics, a company specializing in strength-assist industrial wearable robots, has signed an initial public offering (IPO) underwriting agreement with NH Investment & Securities to pursue a listing on the KOSDAQ.

Jang Jae-ho (third from the left), CEO of FRT Robotics, and Lee Jae-yeol (third from the right), Head of the Eastern Headquarters at NH Investment & Securities, are posing for a commemorative photo after signing the lead underwriting agreement.
[Photo by NH Investment & Securities]

NH Investment & Securities announced on the 30th that it held a signing ceremony with FRT Robotics, the largest industrial wearable robot specialist in Korea, on the 27th.

Founded in 2015 by researchers from government-funded research institutes, FRT Robotics is a wearable robot specialist company that has released and is currently selling the StepUp series up to its 4th generation. The company holds core technologies for worker wearable robots (worker intention recognition and robot joint control technology, wearable robot-specific actuator technology, exoskeleton modular design and mechanism optimization technology, real-time worker status monitoring AI technology) as well as related patents.

Due to rapid aging and low birth rates, a serious social issue of labor shortage has emerged. As a solution, the potential for the use of wearable robots for workers is highly valued, and accordingly, the market growth outlook for worker wearable robots is positive.

Recently, in collaboration with the U.S. company Exo Bionics, FRT Robotics is conducting a Seoul City care robot demonstration project targeting nursing care facilities under Seoul City and plans to expand it into a distribution project in the future. Additionally, the company has registered as an innovative procurement product with the Korea Forest Service and secured public procurement contracts with the Public Procurement Service, delivering 360 units of worker wearable robots (the largest single contract quantity domestically) to the Korea Forest Service, the National Fire Agency, and the Ammunition Support Command for pilot operation. Furthermore, continuous purchases and large-scale distribution are being negotiated with local governments and private companies.

The StepUp 4th generation focuses on semi-active actuator-type customized products for workers, while the StepUp 5th generation is under development with an emphasis on lightweight, slim, and modular designs tailored to individual users’ bodies, with a planned release in 2025.

An NH Investment & Securities official stated, "We positively assess the company’s growth potential amid the growing industrial wearable robot market environment."