Korean AI-based Medical startup VUNO unveiled its plan to expand its services globally with the launch of its IPO on February 26th. The AI medical imaging company announced that it received the greenlight from Korea Exchange (KRX) to join the secondary bourse, KOSDAQ for an initial public offering of 37.8 billion won by issuing 1.8 million shares. The company plans to use the funds in investing in R&D infrastructure and hiring researchers and scientists in medicine, IT and AI, etc.
Hyun-jun Kim, VUNO’s CEO said in a press conference, “Going public provides us with the capital we need to continue to grow and scale and helps us reaffirm our global status as an undisputed leader on the forefront of the AI medical industry”.
The book building process that took place on Feb 8-9 was attended by a total of 1,548 institutional investors including 314 overseas investors, making it 1,457 times oversubscribed. The IPO was priced at KRW 21,000 well above the desired range of KRW 15,000- 19,500 a share.
VUNO, founded back in Dec 2014, developed the very first medical AI solution that received Korean regulatory clearance and has rapidly expanded its product lines since then to a wider spectrum covering medical imaging in radiology and pathology, bio-signal and automated medical transcription to offer a more comprehensive suite of AI solutions to address diverse needs across different specialties and departments. Since the first deployment, eight products have been commercialized so far, and five of the radiology solutions are CE marked.
“The IPO signifies a major leap forward for the company. It will give us a key branding opportunity and serve as a growth momentum to further accelerate both local and global expansion through major partnerships with UBCare, one of the largest EMR giants in Korea, M3, Japan’s largest medical service platform and CHC, Taiwan’s major healthcare group and many more to come within the year” said Kim, the company’s CEO.
