Japans Slack Competitor Chatwork Gets Nod For IPO On TSE

Japan’s Slack competitor Chatwork announced that its application for initial public offering (IPO) at the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) has been approved by regulators.

In a statement, Chatwork, which provides a business chat tool, said it plans to offer a total of 7.9 million shares, including an over-allotment option of up to 1.27 million shares, on the TSE Mothers Market on September 24.

Chatwork, which was founded in 2004, will release its share price range on August 29, with book building scheduled to start on September 2. Pricing will be released on September 6.

Established in Osaka, Chatwork received $2.5 million in Series A from GMO Venture Partners in April 2015. It raised another $12.5 million in Series B from JAFCO Japan, SMBC Venture Capital, and other investors.

According to its prospectus, Chatwork’s flagship service currently serves 2.75 million users, with 364,000 paying subscribers. The company also sells antivirus products.

The company’s consolidated statement showed that its revenue in the first half of 2019 was 853 million yen (about $8 million) and a net profit of 46.4 million yen ($436,000).

For the entire 2018, Chatwork posted revenue of 1.31 billion yen (about $12.3 million) with an ordinary loss of 186 million yen ($1.75 million) and a net loss of 110 million yen ($1.04 million).

The company has a total of 100 employees as of the end of July.

In June, Japanese business card management firm Sansan Inc priced its IPO at the top of an indicative range, raising 38.9 billion yen ($360 million).

The firm, which allows users to scan and organise Japan’s ubiquitous “meishi” or business cards, listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Mothers market on June 19.