IPO Watch: Now there's another transcription and translation stock on the ASX

The latest company to list on the ASX is the bourse’s second transcription & translation stock.

Access Innovation Holdings (ASX:AIM) or Ai-Media commenced trading on the ASX at 12pm today.

It joins translation tech play Straker Translation (ASX:STG) which aimed to help human translators by making a translation of its own and farming out errors made by human translators.

Ai-Media raised $65.5 million at $1.23 per share and two hours into trading had risen by 13 per cent.

Access Innovation (ASX:AIM) share price chart

Day ahead

Ai-Media was founded in 2003 focusing on caption creation for the deaf community. It has gradually expanded into transcription, translation and speech analytics.

Its clientele includes 2,200 international broadcasters, streaming content providers, government organisations and universities.

Its most recent transcription product, Scribblr.ai, delivers 99 per cent accuracy and costs US$1 per minute.

COVID-19 has resulted in a spike of video conferencing and webinars with people unable to travel or confined to their homes. In its prospectus, the company noted demand for its live captioning services has likewise risen.

Ai-Media said it could now continue its current growth trajectory thanks to the IPO proceeds.

The total addressable market for the company’s products is US$11.8 billion ($16.1 billion) in 2020. By 2022 it is projected to rise US$14.7 billion ($20.1 billion).

It achieved pro forma revenue on a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) basis of 26 per cent in the last 10 years and is projecting $43.8 million in services revenue this financial year.

“Our listing today on the ASX marks an important milestone for Ai-Media supporting our global growth strategy along with our continued investment in our product innovation and our technology platform,” said Ai-Media chair Deanne Weir.

Tony Abrahams, the founder of the company, was similarly confident a big future lay ahead.

“We’re all excited by the opportunities ahead of us in a growing global market by harnessing the power of our high-quality, security-accredited and scalable proprietary technology to deliver great outcomes for our customers and our shareholders,” he said.