S.Korean accelerators FuturePlay and Bluepoint Partners rev up for IPOs

South Korea’s two well-known accelerators FuturePlay and Bluepoint Partners are preparing for initial public offerings, buoyed by record high performances last year. 

Industry insiders forecast the two will aim to go public before the year’s end. 

FuturePlay raked in 57 billion won ($46 million) in revenue and 45.8 billion won in operating profit last year. The figures mark 110% and 160% jumps, respectively, from the year prior. 

Bluepoint Partners saw its sales reach 38.5 billion won and its operating profit soar to 24.2 billion won in 2021. Its revenue has about doubled and the operating profit has more than tripled from the previous year. 

The record-high performances are thanks to the snowballing corporate value of the startups it invested in at the early stages.

FuturePlay has injected funds into more than 170 startups as of late last year with the combined value of the invested companies exceeding 3.3 trillion won.

The company hit the jackpot when one of its invested companies, medical artificial intelligence provider Vuno, went public on the Kosdaq. Under the slogan “View the Invisible, Know the Unknown,” Vuno develops AI-powered software solutions that analyze various types of data generated at clinics and hospitals. 

Bluepoint Partners, for its part, has poured its funds into approximately 220 startups. The invested firms’ total valuation exceeds 3.2 trillion won.

“Around a dozen startups we have invested in are expected to go public, which will improve our performance even further,” Bluepoint Partners president Yong-kwan Lee told The Korea Economic Daily.

IPO PLANS

While South Korea’s venture capital ecosystem saw a string of IPOs in recent months, the country has yet to see an accelerator go public. 

Late last year, Daol Investment Co., formerly KTB Network Co., became a public company. Earlier this year, StoneBridge Ventures Inc. also had a successful stock launch. 

You might be wondering if accelerators are venture capital firms because in many cases, they do play that role.

Most accelerators and incubators offer a modest amount of capital in exchange for equity in the given startup. But these investors typically participate at fairly low valuations and back more companies than traditional VC firms would. 

Unlike VCs, accelerators and incubators also provide overall management assistance such as needed equipment, office space and training in addition to capital. 

Bluepoint Partners hopes to become South Korea’s first public accelerator. The company plans to submit a request to the Korea Exchange in the early half of 2022 for it to conduct the preliminary IPO screening.

Founded in 2014, Bluepoint Partners is focused on the tech sector and has an operating amount of 60 billion won. 

FuturePlay has chosen Daishin Securities Co. to be its underwriter – targeting an IPO before the year’s end. 

Founded in 2013, FuturePlay boasts the biggest funding amount among all domestic accelerators with 100 billion won. In 2021, the company formed a fund worth 30 billion won.

Write to Jong Woo Kim at jongwoo@hankyung.com
Jee Abbey Lee edited this article.