Metaverse platform Maxst makes strong debut on Kosdaq

South Korea-based metaverse platform Maxst Co. made a strong debut on the country’s tech-heavy junior bourse Kosdaq on July 27 with its share price surging to 39,000 won ($34), more than double the initial public offering share price of 15,000 won.

The company had drawn much attention ahead of its listing, pulling record-high demands as it was oversubscribed by 6,753 times. 

“Our successful listing is owing to our original technology, which serves as a foothold for the metaverse," said Park Jae-wan, the chief executive of Maxst, in an interview with The Korea Economic Daily on Tuesday.

Maxst’s core technology is its visual positioning service (VPS), which creates a spatial mapping of real-world space and calculates a person's position and location in real-time.

According to CEO Park, the company will use the VPS technology to create virtual spaces of some 150 attractions at home and abroad, starting with Korea's major attraction and Asia's largest underground shopping center, Coex.

Currently, Maxst is re-creating Coex's 600,000 square-meter floor area on an augmented reality (AR) platform that will run on a smartphone app. People visiting Coex can turn on the app to see the virtual creation of the shopping center's streets and stores and navigate their way to a select destination by following an arrow that appears on the screen.

“We will also introduce features where users can press store signs to get product details and discount perks," said Park, adding that other services including virtual trips, virtual leases, games and advertisements are also in the works.

Next year, Maxst will expand the virtual space platform to include overseas attractions and integrate virtual reality (VR) technology so that users can wear VR headsets to enjoy virtual trips to overseas attractions.

By 2025, the company plans to create over 150 metaverse attractions.

According to Park, the company aims to position itself as a leader in the global metaverse space by developing AR and VR-based immersive services that set Maxst apart from other avatar-based platforms.

The metaverse company also offers AR solutions that help increase productivity on industrial sites. So far, around 10 large business groups including Hyundai Motor Co. use Maxst's AR solution.

Going forward, the company plans to increase the sales of its industrial solution from 1.6 billion won ($1.4 million) in 2020 to 17.4 billion won by 2023 by expanding the scope of its business to include small and medium-sized companies and overseas companies.

Write to Min-jun Suh at morandol@hankyung.com
Danbee Lee edited this article.