Marketing Platform Company Tenping to Pursue IPO Next Year

Contracted as Lead Manager with Samsung Securities
Connecting Advertisers with Solo Performance Marketers Business

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] Performance marketing platform company 'Tenping' has signed an underwriting agreement with Samsung Securities and has entered the initial public offering (IPO) process.

According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 31st, Tenping recently signed an underwriting agreement with Samsung Securities aiming to list on KOSDAQ as early as 2022 or by the first half of 2023 at the latest.

Tenping became an independent corporation in 2015 after receiving the top prize in Cheil Worldwide's internal contest and securing investment. It provides a platform service that connects advertisers with individual performance marketers. When advertisers or marketing agencies that have won advertising contracts upload content to the Tenping website, performance marketers conduct marketing through SNS and other channels. Once marketing is conducted, the advertising performance tracking system evaluates the results and advertising fees are settled and distributed in real time.

At the same time, Tenping operates 'Tenping School' to train performance marketers. It educates the general public on performance marketing and hires outstanding performance marketers as pro marketers, in-house marketers, or marketer managers. This business model has been recognized for its performance by companies, leading to contracts for integrated marketing of major corporate brands.

Recently, Tenping opened the shopping platform UUU Mall. It sells daily necessities, health foods, clothing and fashion items, as well as pet products for dogs and cats. It is a shopping platform that offers discount benefits to annual members. It is known that with new funds inflowing through the listing, Tenping plans to invest in expanding the platform and other areas.

Earlier, venture capitalists (VCs) such as TS Investment, Colopra Next, Semat Translink Investment, and Capstone Partners, who invested in redeemable convertible preferred shares (RCPS), are also expected to convert their shares and exit. Tenping reportedly promised to go public within a set period as a condition of the investment when it received about 8 billion KRW from VCs in 2019.

Since its establishment, sales have steadily increased. Although it was only 1.6 billion KRW in 2016, it approached 19 billion KRW in 2019. Last year, sales recorded 16.3 billion KRW, slightly decreased due to the impact of COVID-19. A Tenping official stated, "Sales decreased somewhat as the advertising market was hit by COVID-19," but emphasized, "However, gross profit is improving, and the operating loss is decreasing, showing improved profitability."

Tenping has not yet posted operating profit and plans to enter KOSDAQ through a special listing for business models. CEO Junseong Ko of Tenping said, "This year, we feel we are escaping the adverse effects of COVID-19," adding, "Our goal is to achieve a turnaround to profitability in the year we list on KOSDAQ while growing sales and strengthening our fundamentals."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.