Sunday Toz Founder & CEO JungWoong Lee (image credit: Korea Times)
Korean gaming company 'SundayToz' and The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Development and have created the 'AniPang Fund.' The fund will be aimed at startups in the following fields: Gaming, Social, digital content, platform based technology and contents based technology. The 'AniPang Future Contents Investment Association' will operate under the management of Smilegate Investment.
While the fund will primarily focused on startups in Korea, a representative from SundayToz has confirmed that they are also interested in speaking with startups from elsewhere in Asia, who can benefit from the experience and resources created by the fund.
We reported in March that Korean gaming giant, Smilegate, had acquired a controlling stake in Sunday Toz, the makers of Anipang. Sunday Toz was one of the hottest Korean gaming startups of 2012 that launched social game Anipang on Kakao Talk. It was an immediate breakout success. Sunday Toz went public earlier this year.
Jung-woong Lee of SundayToz said: "I wanted to help upcoming startups with the experience I learned from the success of AniPang and the KOSDAQ listing. I hope the AniPang Fund will help to accelerate the success of talented startups."
Ki-moon Nam of Smilegate Investment explained that the fund managers are already in discussions with a number of companies with high potential and will be actively investing as soon as the fund has been established.
So far Smilegate Investment has already been providing corner stone support to startups who demonstrate passion and potential, through the youth startup program, ‘Orange Farm’.
Orange Farm is currently under development to create a space with 150 seats that aims to accommodate up to 20 startups and future founding teams in Seocho, Seoul. Also to reinforce regional youth startup programs in other parts of the country, they are developing a new facility in South Korea’s coastal resort town of Busan.
For startups moving into these facilities, Smilegate Investment will amplify the chance of securing investment by providing periodical review days, occupational mentoring, angel club management, infrastructure, among other development programs.
