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| COOCON CEO Kim Jong-hyun speaks during a press conference held at Conrad Seoul on Yeouido, Monday. / Courtesy of COOCON |
By Anna J. Park
COOCON, the country's top financial big data provider, is set to make its IPO debut on the tech-heavy KOSDAQ later this month, aiming to grow into a major global player of the big data platform business.
Founded back in 2006, the business data platform company has solidly positioned itself at the heart of the country's big tech companies and financial giants over the past 15 years, as it collects and provides big data to major clients.
Currently, COOCON has over 1,600 companies as its clients, which includes most financial giants and big tech firms of the country, such as KB Kookmin Bank, Naver Financial, Kakao Pay, Toss and Banksalad. The company has established data networking partnership info with 22 major banks in Korea, including Shinhan, Woori, KB Kookmin, Hana, NH Nonghyup, Kakao Bank, K bank, Standard Chartered and Citibank. It has also established partnerships with most brokerage firms, such as NH Investment, Samsung Securities, Shinhan Financial Investment, Kiwoom Securities and Mirae Asset Securities, among others.
The company collects financial business data through such partnerships or through its cutting-edge smart data scraping technology. As the firm holds around 250 intellectual property rights regarding big data collection, entry barriers to the big data market are considered high.
That's why the firm is expected to enjoy the biggest boon from the government-led MyData business, through which customers will have the right to collect and browse their own financial data in one application. As MyData business operators like Toss, Banksalad and Naver Financial will be all using COOCON's big data to provide services to customers, the firm is set to enjoy stable and lucrative growth.
"COOCON's ultimate goal is to position itself as one of the top data business platforms in the world, beyond the Asian market," the firm's CEO Kim Jong-hyun said.
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| COOCON CEO Kim Jong-hyun / Courtesy of COOCON |
During the past two years from 2018 to 2020, the firm's average annual growth rate stood at 41 percent, while its annual revenue in 2020 logged 49.3 billion won ($43.8 million). As big data businesses yield a high rate of profits once they're established, the firm's operating profit has been in double digits for the past few years, with last year's figure standing at 22 percent.
The firm now operates overseas subsidiaries in Japan, China and Cambodia, and it is Korea's only company that collects business data daily from some 500 domestic institutions and over 2,000 foreign institutions from around 40 countries.
The company also wishes to expand its service in broader realms, including medicine, healthcare, secondary markets and delivery services.
Among the total 7.9 million shares, 1.6 million will be available through the offering, with the stock's price band set between 31,000 won and 40,000 won, and its corporate value is estimated at around 246.6 billion won to 318 billion won, depending on the stock price.
Hana Financial Investment will be managing the IPO process as the lead manager, with Samsung Securities joining as underwriter.
The firm's listing debut will be made on April 28. Retail investors can apply for stock allotment on April 19 and 20.
