WantedLab Q1 Revenue Hits 7.9 Billion, Accelerates Subscription & New AI Business Growth

Wantedlab recorded 7.9 billion won in revenue and 1.2 billion won in operating loss in the first quarter. Revenue from the recruitment business was 6 billion won. Although the number of successful candidates decreased due to the off-peak season for recruitment and conservative corporate sentiment, demand for core technical positions such as AI remained stable, and the average recruitment fee of 4.55 million won was maintained at a similar level to the previous year. The number of individual members reached 3.68 million (up 10% year-on-year), and corporate customers reached 32,000 (up 16% year-on-year), showing steady growth. In the second quarter, profit improvement is expected as the effects of the peak recruitment season and the revenue contribution from the new subscription-based business model begin in earnest. In fact, positive leading indicators are emerging, such as a 13% increase in the number of domestic job changers and a 14% monthly average increase in Wantedlab's successful candidates. Unlike the existing 'pay-per-hire' model, the new subscription-based service allows for stable monthly revenue recognition and is expected to accelerate growth, especially in conjunction with increasing demand for AX (AI Transformation) centered around large corporations. New business revenue increased by 16% year-on-year to 1.9 billion won. Education, freelancer matching, and HR solutions are growing steadily through synergy with the existing recruitment business. Furthermore, the company is continuously investing in new AX businesses, particularly centered on the AI agent builder 'Wanted LaaS', building a foundation for future revenue expansion. Investments in global business and advanced AI capabilities are also ongoing. The company is supporting the establishment of an AI matching infrastructure within the services of Raplas, a Japanese IT talent career matching company, and a program to support the recruitment of bridge talent for companies in both countries has also been fully launched. Lee Bok-ki, CEO of Wantedlab, stated, "As an AI-native company, we will leverage our AI technology and over 10 million successful candidate data points to introduce an HR agent that provides complete automation from talent search to recruitment, thereby strengthening our influence in the global AI agent market, which is expected to grow at an average rate of approximately 50%." In particular, the company plans to gradually expand its global performance through synergy with Raplas in the Japanese HR market, which is valued at approximately 90 trillion won.