South Korean online shopping platform provider Cafe24 may be able to go public on the secondary Kosdaq market as the first case of an exceptional entry for deficit-making company to join the stock market upon receiving recognition for technology or business prospects.

According to Korea Exchange (KRX) on Monday, Cafe24 Corp., Asia Seed Co., UST Co. and Korea No.6 Special Purpose Acquisition Co. each submitted applications for their public offering plans to the headquarters of the Kosdaq market.

Cafe24 has applied as the first candidate using the so-called Tesla act, which took effect in January to allow promising startups to join bourses even if they do not meet the regular capital and capacity requirements for an initial public offering (IPO).

Cafe24 offers various services for anyone to do online business targeting the global market ranging from designing online stores to opening and running e-commerce sites. The company last year reported an operating loss of 800 million won ($0.7 million) on operating revenue of 118.1 billion won on a consolidated basis. Its net loss was 1.3 billion won.

Asia Seed, a seed developer, producer and seller, has submitted the application to be listed on the secondary market from the Konex, an exchange for small-to-medium sized companies in Korea. Last year, it posted 1 billion won in operating loss over operating revenue of 21.5 billion won, while its net loss came at 2.4 billion won.

The stainless steel pipe maker UST aims to be listed after completing the merger process with Shinyoung Happy tomorrow No.3 Special Purpose Acquisition Co. The company reported 4.7 billion won in operating profit last year on sales of 50.6 billion won.

Korea No.6 Special Purpose Acquisition Co. was established in September with an aim of the merger and acquisition for the financial support business.

By Choi Jae-won and Lee Ha-yeon

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]