Wantedlab

Market position

Described as South Korea's first referral-based recruiting platform and positioned by the company as operator of the country's largest HR community. Coverage of its IPO filing noted that Korea's top recruitment portal JobKorea, sold to Affinity Equity Partners in March 2021 for an estimated 800 billion won, held about 40% of the full-time job listing market, double that of second-place Saramin. Financial investors expected Wantedlab's IPO to value it at over 100 billion won ($90 million), double the 50 billion won valuation at its 2019 Series B.

Wantedlab combines a referral-driven candidate supply model with AI matching trained on actual hiring-outcome data, and pairs its recruitment platform with adjacent lines — HR branding, enterprise AI transformation services, Japan and cross-border hiring support, and a strategic investment arm — rather than operating as a job-listing portal alone.

Technology

The platform applies AI to matching between job seekers and recruiters, using accumulated application and hiring-outcome data; an algorithm built on past matching results was reported to predict matching success or failure with over 80% accuracy, and the initial model drew on 60,000 applications. The company states its AI agents are trained on 10 million matching data points and analyze matching and hiring-outcome data in real time. It also offers an AI Agent Builder (LaaS) supporting more than 250 external agents. The 2018 acquisition of Kredit Job added data on salaries and employee turnover at 420,000 companies.

Go-to-market

The platform grows through referrals within professional social networks, with rewards for successful recommendations, and sells recruitment, HR branding, AX and global hiring packages directly to employers via consultations and downloadable business materials. Management said IPO proceeds would be used to solidify its position in recruitment, expand into new businesses and begin global expansion.

Employers hiring digital and professional talent — from large global and Korean companies such as Facebook, eBay, Kakao, Naver, Amazon, Nexon, Rakuten and SBI to a base of more than 35,000 companies — plus job seekers and career changers, enterprises and institutions seeking AI literacy and transformation programs, and companies expanding into Japan or hiring foreign nationals in Korea.

Geography

Headquartered in South Korea, with Japan as its first overseas market (entered April 2017, with clients including Rakuten and SBI) and a Japanese subsidiary, Wanted Japan, established in 2023. At the time of its 2021 IPO application the company offered recruitment services in five countries, and it publishes Korean and Japanese language versions of its corporate site.

History

Wantedlab was founded in April 2015 and entered Spark Labs' accelerator program and was selected for Google Campus, raising 1.7 billion won ($1.5 million) from KTB Network, Stonebridge Capital and Mirae Asset Venture Investment within four months. It won the grand prize at the Mobile Awards (Minister of Science and Future Planning award) in 2016, entered the Japanese market in 2017, and launched an AI matching service based on hiring-outcome data in 2018, the same year it acquired Kredit Job. It raised a 10 billion won Series B in 2019 and was designated a prospective unicorn that year. In 2021 it listed on KOSDAQ and was selected for Korea AI Startup 100. Wanted Lab Partners was established in 2022 and obtained new technology business finance company status in 2024. The AX solution line and the Japanese subsidiary Wanted Japan launched in 2023, and in 2025 the company released an AI recruiting agent, launched a global bridge talent hiring service and opened the Wanted Ground training facility.

Risks & controversies

The company was not yet profitable when it applied for its KOSDAQ listing in April 2021, qualifying under a listing route for loss-making startups; its net loss widened to 9.3 billion won in 2020 from 8.3 billion won in 2019. Ahead of the IPO, early investors converted preferred shares into common stock equivalent to 54% of outstanding shares, and in February 2021 received 15 bonus shares per share held.