Korean 'webtoons' firm eyes 20t won valuation from US IPO

[SEOUL] Kakao Entertainment is considering New York as a venue for its planned float next year, the latest South Korean company to look into a US initial public offering (IPO) after e-commerce giant Coupang's blockbuster listing in March.

A float could value the digital comic and movie-making unit of South Korean mobile tech giant Kakao Corp at more than 20 trillion won (S$23.85 billion), double its current worth, its chief executive said in an interview with Bloomberg.

Kakao Entertainment chief executive Lee Jinsoo said that the company is looking into New York where Coupang's float was the biggest US initial public offering since Uber Technologies' 2019 listing. He said he doesn't rule out a local offering.

"Coupang's listing gave me hope that Korean businesses with global potential like Kakao Entertainment can get a much better valuation than they would have before," said Mr Lee, adding that the company plans to prepare for an IPO a year from now.

The company is just one of a long list of Korean startups said to be exploring US IPOs since Coupang raised US$4.6 billion in the largest float by a Korean firm in more than a decade.

Others on the cards include Coupang e-commerce rival Market Kurly, and Viva Republica, operator of Korea's largest fintech startup Toss, which said a stateside listing was among its options in a May interview.

Kakao Entertainment, whose online-based web cartoons or "webtoons" are popular at home and in Japan, is planning to spend one trillion won this year alone to buy assets overseas or at home, he said.

It's currently in talks to acquire the management rights of US-based online fiction app Radish and US webtoon platform Tapas Media, a company official said after the interview.

Competing with Korean tech giant Naver's webtoon and web novel unit, Kakao Entertainment has big plans to go global. It is counting on the growing popularity of Korean culture, manifested by K-pop sensations like boyband BTS and the movie Parasite, which won four Oscars last year.

Already, it's winning fans in Japan, the world's biggest comics market. The Piccoma manga app, owned by both Kakao Entertainment and its parent, was, in fact, the country's most popular manga app last year.

Its webtoon sales tripled last year to 414.6 billion won. Kakao Entertainment-owned webtoons accounted for 40 per cent of Piccoma's sales according to the company.

"The Japanese digital comics market could triple in three to four years," Hyundai Motor Securities analyst Kim Hyunyong said, adding global digital comics and web fiction markets are expected to grow 30 per cent annually.

Mr Lee, 47, quit internet giant Naver at the end of 2009 and with seed money from his former boss at the Korean internet giant, Kakao founder Kim Beom-su, launched a startup called Podotree which sliced digital comics into shorter and cheaper chapters, soon turning a profit. Podotree was taken over by Kakao in 2015 and renamed Kakao Page.

Kakao Page allows you to pay for each chapter of a webtoon unless you can wait a few days by which time it is free. It merged with Kakao's talent agency and record label unit Kakao M earlier this year, creating Kakao Entertainment.

"Our goal is to establish our webtoon platform around the world, in every country in every language. We are at about 10 per cent of that goal," Mr Lee said.

Kakao Entertainment's webtoons are already available in more than five languages, including Indonesian.

BLOOMBERG