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THE INVESTOR] Mobile messenger operator
Kakao and K Cube Venture, an early-stage venture capital, will jointly invest 30 billion won ($26.4 million) in Shiftup, a game company.
Shiftup was established by art director Kim Hyeong-tae, who participated as an art director in the development of mobile game “Blade & Soul.” The game start-up has recently received the limelight with a hit trailer for mobile game “Destiny Child” which it is currently developing with game firm Nextfloor. Well-known illustrators and musicians at home and abroad have participated in the project for the game, Kakao said.
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Destiny Child |
The recent investment announcement is part of Kakao’s initiative to grow competitive game start-ups. The mobile messenger firm has made rounds of investment including those in mobile role-playing game developer KOKOMO Games and social network game developer V8.
“Kakao will spare no effort to support promising game start-ups to offer better game titles for Kakao’s game platform users,” said Nam Goong-hoon, the executive vice president of Kakao’s gaming business.
By Kim Young-won (
wone0102@heraldcorp.com)