VIRNECT (438700: KOSDAQ) was listed today on the KOSDAQ trading board of the Korean Stock Exchange.
VIRNECT has been at the forefront of the industrial XR industry, developing from scratch its proprietary AR technology under the name “Track,” a computer vision engine, after which followed the development of the industrial XR solutions Remote, Make, View, and Twin. The company has a diverse portfolio of customers, counting the most renowned Korean conglomerates and Governmental institutes, while gaining a foothold in the B2C market.
Since its inception in 2016, it has developed a culture of learning from its customers to use its internal expertise best. Nowadays, with a diverse customer base ranging from heavy industries such as chemicals, semiconductors, or displays manufacturing to knowledge-based industries such as IT companies, cultural institutions, and high education centers, VIRNECT has a privileged position to keep improving a top-of-the-line service. A seasoned team has developed the solutions that the company offers; Tim Ha, the company CEO, is a pioneer in the XR field hailing from KAIST UVR Lab, and the core team counts with many years of experience driving global market leaders’ technological advancements and business success in the industrial XR solutions sector.
VIRNECT established a research center in Vienna, Austria, home to numerous global AR tech companies since its early days. This center has evolved, becoming an independent entity. Now the American branch and the European office are preparing for market entry in their respective geographies. On this initiative, the company launched SQUARS in Europe, a complete web-based XR platform, showing a promising start. VIRNECT is now entering both markets for industrial as well as advertising, media, content production, and e-commerce augmented reality (AR) solutions.
On the institutional investors’ roadshow, the company got a lot of interest as the stocks were oversubscribed by a ratio of 1,520 to one, even after raising the initial offer of 3,540,000 stocks with additional 320,000 shares. On the other side retail stocks were oversubscribed 1,311.65 times, pushing the initial offer price to KRW 16,000 (about USD 12.57), surpassing the upper proposed range from KRW 11,500 to KRW 13,600 (USD 9 to 10.7.) In total institutional and retail investors pledged KRW 5.04 trillion (about USD 4 billion) in margin deposits to gain access to the initial public offer.
CEO Tim Ha expressed gratitude, saying, “I extend my heartfelt appreciation to everyone who has supported us to reach this milestone, especially to all the dedicated employees who have led VIRNECT to its current position.” He continued, “Now that we have been listed, we at VIRNECT will keep striving to communicate with investors and customers, continuously work towards enhancing corporate value, and establish a stable profit structure. We are committed to developing the best XR solutions, enabling customers to learn, work, and communicate more effectively. With a customer-centric approach, we will keep pushing the boundaries, seeking new approaches, and challenging ourselves to solve existing problems. Through listing, we are determined to leap to become a global XR technological leader.”
Funds raised from the listing will be allocated for new business ventures, platform development, marketing expenses for overseas expansion, and recruitment of research and development talent.
