Year-end IPO buzz in Seoul preludes brisk H1 2026

TeraViews KOSDAQ Market Listing Ceremony Yonhap — TeraView's KOSDAQ Market Listing Ceremony/ Yonhap

SEOUL, December 10 (AJP) - South Korea’s IPO market, dormant for much of the year, is ending 2025 in a surprising burst of activity, with 10 companies going public in December alone. The pattern runs counter to the usual cycle, where listings cluster in the first half and taper off as investors and bankers wind down for the holidays. Instead, this December has emerged as the busiest in recent years, up from six IPOs in both 2023 and 2024.

The reason is simple: demand is hot. Of the 12 companies that debuted on the KOSPI and KOSDAQ since October, eight more than doubled their IPO price on day one — a performance that has revived optimism across the primary market.

AimedBio, which listed on Dec. 4, quadrupled its IPO price in intraday trading and briefly ranked 19th in KOSDAQ market capitalization, the highest among this year’s newcomers. As of 2:24 p.m. Wednesday, its shares were trading at 47,750 won ($32.5), placing the biotech firm 20th on the index. TeraView, which went public Tuesday, also doubled its IPO price and hit the daily upper limit of 20,800 won on Wednesday, after closing its debut session at 16,000 won — twice the offering price of 8,000 won. The Cambridge-based firm is the first British company to list on KOSDAQ, providing advanced inspection equipment used across multiple industries.

Another new entrant, Pescaro, surged to 47,000 won shortly after its Wednesday debut — nearly triple its offering price of 15,500 won — and closed at 27,100 won, up 74.8 percent from its IPO price. The company specializes in integrated vehicle security platforms.

More listings are scheduled this week. Aegis, a Daegu-based digital platform company that creates “digital earth” replicas of the physical world, will debut Thursday after pricing its IPO at the top of the range, 15,000 won. On Friday, Quadmedicine, a medical technology company focused on microneedle platforms for transdermal drug delivery, will enter the market.

Next week brings another packed slate: TMC on Dec. 15, Acryl on Dec. 16, Naraspace Technology on Dec. 17, and Algenomics on Dec. 18.

Capping the year is one of the most anticipated offerings, Semifive, slated to list on Dec. 29. The design solutions company enables clients to accelerate custom semiconductor development through automation-enabled design infrastructure and proprietary IP. Analysts expect Semifive to be among the most significant KOSDAQ debuts of 2025. Eugene Investment & Securities analyst Park Jong-seon said global demand for customized ASICs — especially for artificial intelligence — is beginning to surge, and noted that Semifive differentiates itself through design experience with major tech firms and strong platform capabilities.

The momentum is likely to carry into early 2026. The pipeline includes heavyweight candidates such as Musinsa, Goodai Global, Olive Young, and K-Bank, pointing to a brisk first half as Korea’s capital markets regain their appetite for new listings.

Lee Jung-woo cannes2030@ajupress.com