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Kakao Entertainment announced today that it has raised US$966 million (1.2 trillion won) in funding from sovereign wealth funds including Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Singapore-based PWARP Investment. The entertainment subsidiary of South Korean Internet giant Kakao operates storytelling platform (web novels and web comics), music, K-pop artist management, and other domestic and foreign media (movies and TV dramas) businesses.
With the latest funding, the company will further its international expansion and make more investments and acquisitions.
Kakao Entertainment has established a webtoon platform in the US and South Korea, aiming to expand its sources of story content and intellectual property for global readers, and to emphasize its key growth strategy in North America. In 2021, Kakao Entertainment acquired Storytelling platforms in the US, such as Tapas, a webcomic platform; radisha serialized fiction app; and martial arts worlda fantasy novel platform.
The company claims it has 100,000 story creators and plans to look for opportunities to adapt popular web comics or web novels into movies or TV series.
Kakao’s chief investment officer, Jae-hyun Bae, said in a statement that it was a major deal for the company to be able to raise capital of this size amidst global economic uncertainty. “This demonstrates the global competitiveness and future growth potential of Kakao Entertainment’s unique intellectual property (IP) value chain, which spans multiple categories in the entertainment industry,” Bae said.
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