- Companies
- Kakao Piccoma
Kakao Piccoma Valuation, Funding & Investors
Kakao Piccoma is valued at $7.3B as of May 2021.
Last Kakao Piccoma valuation
$7.3B
Undisclosed stage · May 2021
Last Kakao Piccoma funding round
$550M
Undisclosed stage · May 2021
Cumulative funding Kakao Piccoma raised
$550M
across 1 funding round
Key investors in Kakao Piccoma
Anchor Equity Partners
About Kakao Piccoma
Kakao Japan, renamed Kakao Piccoma Corporation in November 2021, is the Tokyo-based Japanese subsidiary of South Korea's Kakao that operates Piccoma, a digital manga and webtoon platform. The company was established in 2011 to promote Kakao's messaging services in Japan and launched Piccoma in April 2016 for smartphones, tablets and personal computers. Piccoma sells individual chapters of Japanese manga and translated Korean webtoons from Kakao's content businesses, and lets readers unlock some chapters free after waiting 24 hours; it earns revenue mainly from paid chapter purchases. Piccoma has been the top-grossing comic app in Japan since July 2020, and in May 2021 the company raised about KRW 600 billion from Anchor Equity Partners and overseas sovereign wealth funds at a valuation of about KRW 8.8 trillion. Kakao remains the controlling shareholder, with Kakao Entertainment holding a further stake. The company opened a French-language Piccoma service in Europe but closed it in September 2024 to concentrate on Japan.
Founded
2011
HQ
Website
Status
Privately held
Customer focus
B2C
Revenue model
Advertising
Valuation
$7.3B (May 2021)
Kakao Piccoma Valuation
Kakao Piccoma is currently valued at $7.3B, based on its undisclosed-stage round in May 2021. Read the announcement ↗
The $550M round was led by Anchor Equity Partners.
Kakao Piccoma valuation by funding round
| Date | Stage | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| May 2021 | Undisclosed stage | $7.3B |
Kakao Piccoma Funding History
Kakao Piccoma has raised a total of $550M across 1 funding round.
Kakao Piccoma funding rounds
| Date | Stage | Investors | Raised | Valuation | Deal Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2021 | Undisclosed stage | Anchor Equity Partners (lead) | $550M | $7.3B | Kakao Japan, the Japanese subsidiary of Kakao Corp. specializing in webtoon services through its Piccoma platform, secured a 600 billion KRW investment led by Anchor Equity Partners via the Ryan & Friends Fund in May 2021. The deal involved issuing 67,930 new shares at 8.28 million KRW per share for 560 billion KRW, plus 40 billion KRW for secondary shares, resulting in Ryan & Friends acquiring a 7.8% stake. Post-investment ownership stood at Kakao with 72.9%, Kakao Entertainment with 18.2%, and Ryan & Friends with 7.8%. The transaction valued Kakao Japan at 8.8 trillion KRW (approximately $7.8 billion USD), marking the largest external investment in a Japanese content company that year and the first such funding for a Kakao overseas subsidiary. This valuation exceeded earlier internal projections of 6 trillion KRW and positioned it closer to rival Naver Webtoon's 10 trillion KRW estimate. The funding served as strategic preparation for a planned 2022 IPO, enabling expansion of the Piccoma platform, creator nurturing, and global webtoon content development. Proceeds were earmarked for investing in Piccoma, fostering creators, securing competitive intellectual properties, and entering new business areas to solidify market leadership in Japan's webtoon sector, described as a cartoon sanctuary. Kakao Japan had recently launched studios like Studio1Pic in Seoul and Sherpa Studio with Daewon Media to boost original webtoon production. Kakao Entertainment's acquisitions of US platforms Radish Fiction and Tapas Media complemented these efforts in the growing global webtoon market. Anchor Equity Partners, a global investment group, led the round with participation from overseas sovereign wealth funds, highlighting Kakao Japan's dominance in Japan's webtoon market. Industry observers anticipated the capital would enhance collaborations, strengthen operations, and drive higher valuations ahead of the IPO, while positioning Kakao to expand its global influence. |
Who has invested in Kakao Piccoma?
1 investor has backed Kakao Piccoma across its funding rounds, including Anchor Equity Partners.
Lead investors include Anchor Equity Partners.
Kakao Piccoma Investors
| Investor | HQ | Rounds | Role | First check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all 1 Kakao Piccoma investors. Start Free Trial | ||||
Benchmark 350K+ Funding Rounds and Disclosed VC Valuation Multiples
Sign up to see data on 350K+ funding rounds and disclosed revenue and EBITDA valuation multiples, from seed, through growth stage, to pre-IPO.
Start Free TrialAcquisitions by Kakao Piccoma
Kakao Piccoma has acquired 2 companies to date.
Last acquisition by Kakao Piccoma was on January 16th 2023. Kakao Piccoma acquired Voithru for $23M.
Latest Acquisitions by Kakao Piccoma
| Description | Voithru is a Seoul-based AI platform for crowdsourced subtitles and content localization. The service combines machine translation with human review for videos, offering analytics on viewer engagement. Voithru supports creators on YouTube and OTT platforms with multilingual captioning in over 50 languages. | SAKURA Exchange BitCoin is a Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange registered with Japan's Financial Services Agency. The platform enables seamless purchase, sale, and trading of Bitcoin and altcoins using Japanese yen. It provides funding options through bank transfers and offers advisory services on digital asset investments for retail and institutional users in the Japanese market. |
| HQ Country | ||
| HQ City | Gangneung | Osaka |
| Deal Date | 16 Jan 2023 | 4 Apr 2022 |
| Valuation | $23M | undisclosed |
| EV/Revenue | ||
| EV/EBITDA | ||
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all Kakao Piccoma acquisitions and their M&A valuation multiples. Start Free Trial | ||
Investments by Kakao Piccoma
Kakao Piccoma has invested in 1 company to date.
Latest investment by Kakao Piccoma was on May 10th 2022. Kakao Piccoma invested in Minto in their $5M Seed round.
Latest Investments by Kakao Piccoma
| Description | Minto is a Tokyo-based platform building a creator economy for manga and anime production. Established in 2020, it provides end-to-end support including storyboarding, animation tools, distribution on apps like Crunchyroll, and performance analytics. Serving over 5,000 creators, Minto has facilitated 100+ series launches, partnering with publishers such as Shueisha for global fan monetization. |
| HQ Country | |
| HQ City | Tokyo |
| Deal Date | 10 May 2022 |
| Round | Seed |
| Raised | $5M |
| Investors | OLM Ventures; Mizuho Capital; MITSUI SUMITOMO INSURANCE Venture Capital (MSIVC) |
| Valuation | undisclosed |
| EV/Revenue | |
| EV/EBITDA | |
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all Kakao Piccoma investments and their VC round multiples. Start Free Trial | |
Kakao Piccoma Competitors
Kakao Piccoma competitors include listed companies like Match Group, Kakao, Life360 and Strive, and private ones like Miaopai and Telegram.
| Company | HQ | Status | Revenue | EBITDA | Valuation | Revenue Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Publicly listed | $3.5B | $939M | $9.5B | 3.6x | ||
| Publicly listed | $6.1B | $1.1B | $9.8B | 0.6x | ||
| Publicly listed | $489M | $32M | $3.6B | 5.4x | ||
| Private | - | - | $3B | - | ||
| Publicly listed | $4M | ($21M) | $2.8B | 309.8x | ||
| Private | - | - | $30B | - |
Kakao Piccoma Public Comps
Kakao Piccoma is still privately-owned, but its public comps include Kunlun, Duolingo, Doximity, Snap, Match Group, Kakao, JOYY, Life360, Pinterest and Strive.
| Last FY | EV/Revenue | EV/EBITDA | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | EBITDA | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | |
| $1.2B | ($232M) | 5.2x | 4.2x | (27.9x) | 51.0x | |||
| $1B | $152M | 4.8x | 4.2x | 32.5x | 15.5x | |||
| $645M | $229M | 8.0x | 7.8x | 22.6x | 15.4x | |||
| $5.9B | ($300M) | 1.8x | 1.6x | (35.4x) | 8.7x | |||
| $3.5B | $939M | 3.6x | 3.6x | 13.3x | 9.5x | |||
| $6.1B | $1.1B | 0.6x | 0.6x | 3.6x | 3.0x | |||
| $2.1B | $160M | 1.3x | 1.1x | 16.7x | 11.8x | |||
| $489M | $32M | 7.1x | 5.4x | 107.5x | 27.2x | |||
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all Kakao Piccoma competitors and their valuation data. Start Free Trial | ||||||||
Common questions about Kakao Piccoma
| When was Kakao Piccoma founded? | Kakao Piccoma was founded in 2011. |
| Where is Kakao Piccoma headquartered? | Kakao Piccoma is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. |
| Is Kakao Piccoma publicly listed? | No, Kakao Piccoma is a private, VC-backed company. |
| What is Kakao Piccoma's valuation? | Kakao Piccoma was last valued at $7.3B in its undisclosed-stage round in May 2021. |
| How much funding has Kakao Piccoma raised? | Kakao Piccoma has raised $550M across 1 funding round. |
| What was Kakao Piccoma's last funding round? | Kakao Piccoma's last funding round was a $550M undisclosed-stage round in May 2021, led by Anchor Equity Partners. |
| Who are Kakao Piccoma's investors? | Kakao Piccoma's investors include Anchor Equity Partners. |
| Which companies are comparable to Kakao Piccoma? | Companies comparable to Kakao Piccoma include Match Group, Kakao, Life360, Miaopai, Strive and Telegram. |
| How many companies has Kakao Piccoma acquired? | Kakao Piccoma has acquired 2 companies, including Voithru and SAKURA Exchange BitCoin. |
| What was the largest acquisition by Kakao Piccoma? | The $23M acquisition of Voithru in January 2023 is the largest acquisition Kakao Piccoma has made to date. |
| How many companies has Kakao Piccoma invested in? | Kakao Piccoma has invested in 1 company, including Minto. |
| What was Kakao Piccoma's last investment? | In May 2022, Kakao Piccoma invested in Minto's $5M seed round alongside OLM Ventures, Mizuho Capital and MITSUI SUMITOMO INSURANCE Venture Capital (MSIVC). |
See companies similar to Kakao Piccoma
Start Your
Free Trial Today
Try Multiples for free for 3 days. Got questions or need a demo? Schedule a call with us below.




