Photo Credit: Kakao Entertainment
Kakao Entertainment in South Korea, which owns several K-pop labels and a streaming platform, announced a $1 billion funding round fueled by leading sovereign wealth funds.
Kakao Entertainment is the majority owner and operator of Starship Entertainment in Seoul. Today’s capital influx was revealed via a formal press release, which was shared with DMN. The Monsta X, The Boyz and Starship Entertainment said it has pulled down W1.2 trillion (966.71 millions at the time this was written).
Although the announcement doesn’t name the participants in “sovereign assets funds”, regional outlets such as the Korea Herald It was revealed that both the Singaporean and Saudi Arabian governments had contributed W600 billion each through their Public Investment Funds and GIC.
Kakao announced that it has issued new shares via third-party allocation for the investment. This comes as Saudi Arabia’s government continues its pursuit of ambitious growth in entertainment and leisure under the Vision 2030 framework.
Music is a major factor in the push for growth. The Public Investment Fund also holds large stakes in Uber and Live Nation as well as prominent video games companies, including six percent in Nintendo.
The massive raise aside, the execs made it clear they will use the tranche for better commercial results, such as by using Kakao’s media and music divisions.
The company stated that Kakao Entertainment is aiming to lead growth in K-culture globally and to propel Kakao Group’s overall vision of expanding into markets beyond Korea. The company plans to continue to explore strategic partnerships to create synergy between webtoons and K-pop as well as K.dramas, movies, and K-pop.
The higher-ups stressed that the business has “Korea’s largest collection of original webtoons, web novels” and operates Tapas Entertainment in North America. They also have projects such as Tapas Entertainment, which released 15 films and television series in 2022. MatchAndGyeongseong Creature Both are set to premiere on Netflix in 2023.
These points, along with the well-documented devotion of K-pop fans, will make it interesting to watch how Kakao uses the funding to expand its international reach.
According to executives, the entity’s music unit will “continue to grow globally through distribution partners” and “further diversify its music library,” while “growing fandom for K-pop artists.”
BTS diehards have been extremely fond of Hybe’s WeVerse fan site. Some steps have also taken to capitalize on this enthusiasm for visual media. Passionate fans could also enjoy carefully created “webtoons”, digital stories and other media from Kakao.
A “KPOP” and Korean Entertainment ETF set sail last year. SM Entertainment partnered up with AmazeVR “to deliver mesmerizing VR concerts featuring mega Kpop stars.” A massive K-pop festival was held in Los Angeles.