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Market watchers say the success of the stock market debuts of Millie and Doosan Robotics will serve as a gauge of Korea's initial public offering (IPO) market sentiment in the second half of this year.

Millie, a Korean e-book service platform, is set to debut on the Kosdaq market on Wednesday, after a previous botched attempt to go public last November.

In less than a year, the atmosphere of Korea's IPO has changed drastically.

The e-book platform business, which had to withdraw plans to go public last year due to an unsatisfactory corporate valuation amid worsening market conditions, succeeded in receiving 1.93 trillion won ($1.43 billion) in deposits from retail investors during its subscription period earlier this month. The subscription competition rate among retail investors stood at 449.56 to 1.

A Millie e-book platform user listens to an audiobook. Courtesy of Millie

The company's public offering price has been set at 23,000 won ($17), with an estimated corporate valuation of 162 to 186 billion won. One of the firm's IPO strategies is to present an attractive valuation, offering shares at a reasonable price. While the firm's operating profit during the first half jumped five-fold year-on-year to 5 billion won, it opted for a lower corporate valuation than the one used in last year's failed attempt.

"Millie is expected to display stable growth based on its dominance in the local subscription-based reading platform market. The firm holds the highest market share of 62.9 percent as of the first half of this year," Park Jong-sun, an analyst at Eugene Investment, said.

The performance of Millie's stock price after listing is expected to be a barometer of the success of Doosan Robotics, which is scheduled to debut on the benchmark KOSPI early next month, as well as the success of EcoPro Materials, which also announced its official IPO plan by submitting a prospectus to financial authorities earlier this week.

Collaborative robots by Doosan Robotics / Courtesy of Doosan Robotics

Doosan Robotics received 33.1 trillion won in deposits during its subscription period from retail investors, with a competition rate of 524.05 to 1. It is the largest amount of deposit for an IPO subscription this year and also ranks ninth in Korea's IPO history.

Market analysts forecast Doosan Robotics' stock price will continue to rise after its KOSPI debut on Oct. 5, given the firm's reasonable valuation of 1.68 trillion won based on its public offering price.

"Considering the recent rise in valuation and market expectations over the robot sector, Doosan Robotics' relatively reasonable valuation could appeal to investors," Seo Jae-ho, an analyst at DB Financial Investment, said.

Investors are voicing hopes of bullish stock price performances on IPO day. Due to the revision of the country's bourse operator regulations in June, the price of newly-offered stocks on the first day of trading can rise up to 400 percent of their IPO price. If the shares display impressive growth early on, the IPO market atmosphere, which had been somewhat depressed throughout the past year, could shift to a new phase, according to analysts.