This article was published on July 18, 2025, at 5:12 p.m. on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove site.
Mobile game development startup Kong Studios has broken through the 'game neglect' trend in the venture investment market. The company has secured 50 billion won in new funding, attracting a series of investments from large domestic venture capitalists (VCs). Considering that new investments in the gaming sector last year fell short of 100 billion won, this is an exceptional achievement.
According to the VC industry on the 18th, Kong Studios recently conducted fundraising targeting domestic VCs, raising a total of 50 billion won. The structure involves the issuance of new shares by Kong Studios Korea, which is the development hub of Kong Studios, with Atinum Investment identified as the lead investor driving this new investment.
Specifically, Atinum Investment invested 10 billion won using the venture investment fund 'Atinum Growth Investment Partnership 2023.' In addition, new investors such as SV Investment, Smilegate Investment, Daesung Private Equity, and Kona Investment participated, with investments ranging from 5 billion won to 10 billion won.
Kong Studios, a mobile game developer that started in Silicon Valley, was established in 2013 by CEO Seok Kwang-won, who previously worked at Nexon. Their mobile adventure role-playing game (RPG) 'Guardian Tales,' launched in 2020, gained worldwide popularity, achieving a corporate value assessment of over 1 trillion won in January 2021.
Kong Studios plans to use the new investment funds to develop a new game following Guardian Tales. This is also the reason for placing Kong Studios Korea at the forefront instead of its U.S. headquarters. Kong Studios Korea is reported to have been established in 2015, just two years after the founding of Kong Studios, serving as its Korean branch and development headquarters.
The recent large-scale fundraising by Kong Studios is being regarded as an exceptional case in the industry. Even though the success rate of new game releases is low and recovering the investment is also challenging, game startups have become the top industry avoided by VCs; large VCs, however, have made substantial new investments in Kong Studios.
According to the Korea Venture Capital Association, domestic VCs invested only 99.9 billion won in the gaming sector last year. This figure represents a decrease of more than 13% compared to the previous year's 115.4 billion won, marking the lowest investment among the major sectors divided into ICT manufacturing, ICT services, electrical/machinery/equipment, and bio/medicine.
There is an analysis that domestic VCs have highly evaluated Kong Studios's capability to develop new games. Since the launch of Guardian Tales in 2020, the company has consistently introduced new hero characters and improved performance by enhancing and expanding in-game content.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system, Kong Studios Korea recorded sales of 48.4 billion won last year, an increase of over 27% compared to the previous year when it was 38 billion won. During the same period, operating profit increased nearly 52%, from 1.8 billion won to 2.7 billion won. It is projected that Kong Studios's overall sales have achieved similar growth.
Amid this, it is reported that the downward adjustment of corporate value has led to the investment decisions of VCs. Kong Studios is said to have received new funding from Kong Studios Korea with a pre-value (corporate value before fundraising) of about 350 billion won, with conditions for future equity swap with Kong Studios.
Kong Studios secured $62 million (approximately 73 billion won) in Series B funding in September 2021, gaining recognition for a corporate value of $1 billion (approximately 1.16 trillion won), thus becoming a unicorn. With the investment in Kong Studios Korea, it can secure shares of Kong Studios at less than half the price.
An industry insider stated, "2021 was a time of abundant liquidity, and corporate value had some inflated aspects, but the market sees that Kong Studios has sufficient value to exceed 1 trillion won upon going public," adding, "VCs view Kong Studios as the second SHIFT UP."
Meanwhile, there are speculations that Kong Studios may seek additional funding. This comes from a significant interest from domestic VCs, with possibilities of raising about 30 billion won in additional funding. If this occurs, the investment scale of VCs in the gaming sector is expected to surge this year.