Seoul-based AI search platform Liner is targeting a KOSDAQ listing in late 2027, CEO Luke Jinu Kim said.

The company has hired law firm Yulchon and accounting firm Samjong KPMG, the Korean member firm of KPMG, to advise on the listing, Kim said. Liner announced the appointment of KB Securities and Daishin Securities in April, with KB serving as lead manager and Daishin as co-manager, according to the company.

Liner is in the later stages of a USD 40m to USD 50m Series C round that could be announced within the next couple of months, Kim said. Proceeds will support growth.

The financing could also open the door to acquisitions after a history of organic growth, according to the CEO. Liner is interested in enhancing its existing verticals and potentially expanding into new ones through M&A, with attractive sectors including healthcare, finance, and legal. Targets holding proprietary data and user bases related to those verticals are also attractive, Kim said, and regions of interest include the US, Japan, India, and Korea.

Revenue is projected at USD 8m to USD 10m this year, up from about USD 2.5m in 2025, Kim said. The company is reinvesting and aims to reach profitability in 2028.

The Liner platform helps individuals and organizations find reliable information and reduce AI hallucinations. Its AI search answers questions and shows the source behind each sentence, aimed at people who cannot afford a wrong answer. It offers general search, an academic version that searches published research, and a writing version that turns research into finished documents. The latter two products, Liner Scholar and Liner Write, launched earlier this year.

Liner operates a subscription-based model, with the ability for users to buy more credits if they go over their limit on Liner Scholar and Liner Write. It also runs an ads business model for free users in India, Japan, and the Middle East, along with a small amount of advertising in Korea, but none in the US, Kim said.

Founded in 2015 by Kim and COO Brian Woo as a productivity tool to find reliable articles online, the company pivoted to AI search in 2023. Last year, it began licensing its search technology for use in other companies’ products and selling a version that runs on corporate customers’ own internal documents. Enterprise customers include HUMAIN, the Saudi sovereign AI company, and Korean conglomerates including Samsung and SK.

Liner has more than 13 million registered users, including academics, students, researchers, professionals, enterprise users, and developers. More than 95% are outside South Korea and the company is live in more than 220 countries. More than 60% of paying subscribers are in the US, and Kim said India is growing fastest in revenue this year, with the Middle East and Japan also showing strong growth.

The business has approximately 80 employees and could reach 100 later this year or early next, according to Kim.

Liner has raised approximately USD 30m in equity, with its last round in 2024, Kim said. Investors include Atinum Investment, InterVest, Samsung Venture Investment, LB Investment, Capstone Partners, Industrial Bank of Korea, SL Investment, CJ Investment, KB Investment, and We Ventures. In September 2025, the company secured access to up to KRW 20bn (USD 14m) in debt financing through a Korean government guarantee program and has drawn about USD 2m to date, according to Kim.

Perplexity AI is a Liner competitor in AI research, Kim said, and he described Consensus, SciSpace, and Elsevier as competitors focused on academic research verticals. Elicit, Cactus Communications, Clarivate, and Research Solutions also operate in academic search and research intelligence, while Exa Labs, Parallel Web Systems, Nebius, You.com, and Glean operate in search infrastructure and enterprise search.

Recent M&A includes Wiley’s 2026 acquisition of Emerald Publishing for GBP 337m (USD 452m), or approximately 7x adjusted EBITDA including synergies. Emerald generated more than USD 85m in FY26 revenue with a 37%-38% adjusted EBITDA margin. Also this year, Nebius agreed to acquire Tavily in a deal reportedly worth up to USD 400m with milestones. In 2024, AlphaSense acquired Tegus for USD 930m in cash and stock, alongside a USD 650m raise that valued AlphaSense at USD 4bn.

Several companies have also raised capital recently. In 2026, Exa Labs raised a USD 250m Series C at a USD 2.2bn valuation, Parallel Web Systems raised a USD 100m Series B at a USD 2bn valuation, and Consensus raised a USD 30m Series B. Upstage also raised a pre-IPO round at a KRW 1.36tn (USD 940m) pre-money valuation, ahead of a potential listing for which underwriters have discussed valuations of KRW 2tn-KRW 3tn (USD 1.4bn-USD 2.1bn). In 2025, Perplexity AI raised USD 200m at a reported USD 20bn valuation, while Elicit raised a USD 22m Series A at a USD 100m valuation.