October 30, 2024

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Kids Note, an operator of a mobile platform for nursery schools and parents in South Korea, said on Oct. 13 it was preparing to go public in 2022.

As part of its initial steps for the planned initial public offering, the company has recently picked Daishin Securities as a lead underwriter.

Mobile messenger giant Kakao’s affiliate Kids Note plans to go public in 2022. (Kids Note)

Founded in 2012, Kids Note runs a communication service between child care centers and parents. In 2015, it became an affiliate of mobile tech behemoth Kakao. Mimicking Kakao’s free-of-charge business model in the mobile messenger market, Kids Note also distributed its services for free to take the lead in the educational platform segment. 

More than half of child care centers in Korea are currently using the mobile tool.

In 2017, it turned a profit by operating mobile ad and commerce services. Its revenue grew 50 percent on-year in 2019 with its operating profit jumping 2.5 times.

“For the past 8 years, Kids Note has been changing how parents and educational institutes for kids communicate,” said Kids Note CEO Choi Chang-wook, adding “The company now needs to take a quantum leap to achieve exponential growth, and to become a Kakao in the childhood educational sector with the planned IPO.”

The Kakao affiliate acquired toy retailer Awins earlier this year and invested in enterprise resource planning system company JpLe to advance its operations.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)