Kakao Entertainment raises over $900 million in international funds

Kakao Entertainment succeeded in raising 1.2 trillion won ($964.2 million) in international funds, including those from Saudi Arabia, the company announced Thursday. Kakao Entertainment runs webtoon and web novel services along with music busi...

[KAKAO ENTERTAINMENT]

Kakao Entertainment succeeded in raising 1.2 trillion won ($964.2 million) in international funds, including those from Saudi Arabia, the company announced Thursday.

Kakao Entertainment runs webtoon and web novel services along with music businesses.

The Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia and Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC each invested 600 billion won into the deal.

This is the largest scale of foreign investment for a domestic content company, Kakao said.

“It’s significant that we were able to secure funds of this scale at a time when both the Korean and global markets are facing a lot of uncertainty and investment sentiment has weakened,” said Kakao’s CIO and Executive Vice President Bae Jae-hyun, who led the deal. “This is testament to the global competitiveness and future growth potential of Kakao Entertainment’s unique IP [intellectual property] value chain, which spans multiple categories in the entertainment industry.”

The funds will be put toward achieving Kakao’s vision of “Beyond Korea,” or Kakao’s aim to become a global entertainment company. Half of the fund will be used to propel global businesses in stories, IP and music while the other half will be used for future mergers and acquisitions.

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]