[Series] Monster Riot, Webtoon Studio Led by 'Terror Man' Creator, Raises 700 Million Won... Aiming for 100 IPs Within 3 Years
Action-fantasy webtoon production company Monster Riot has secured 700 million won in investment from Union Investment Partners. The company aims to accumulate 100 original IPs within three years and achieve profitability by 2028.
Action-fantasy webtoon production company Monster Riot has attracted an investment of 700 million won from Union Investment Partners. This follows the seed investment from Series Ventures in July 2024, bringing the cumulative investment amount to 1.2 billion won. This investment is the first in the currently ongoing Series A round, and the company is recruiting additional investors.
Founded in Busan in 2021, Monster Riot is a webtoon studio specializing in the action and fantasy genres. The company handles the entire production process internally, from the planning stage—where stories are discovered and characters and worldviews are designed—to storyboarding, drawing, and inspection. Planning and production are overseen by CEO Ko Jin-ho, the original creator of the NAVER WEBTOON 'Terror Man'. CEO Ko debuted as a print manga artist in the 1990s and has gone through game character design, serialization in Japan, and webtoon production, and he still participates in story, storyboarding, and character design.
The core of the business is securing original IPs. Rather than stopping at webtoon serialization, the company focuses on expanding the stories and characters of its works into various types of content. It is pursuing copyright businesses with film, drama, and game companies, and is broadening its scope to include printed books and figures.
More than 90% of its owned works are action, fantasy, or thriller, as the company has concentrated its production capabilities on genres where character movement, battle scenes, and background descriptions are crucial. It currently holds 10 original IPs, three of which have signed contracts for game and video adaptation rights. Notably, 'Executioner' signed a game adaptation contract with Endorphin Connect, and 'Zombie Funeral Service' signed a video adaptation contract with Y Works Entertainment.
Overseas, the company is presenting its works in eight countries, such as pursuing serialization through supply contracts with local platforms using its Tokyo branch as a base. 'Killer Cop' was released on overseas platforms including Japan's LINE Manga, and 'The Old Prisoner Lives in Solitude' began serialization in September 2025 on Japan's Piccoma and KakaoPage in Korea.
Following this investment, the company plans to increase content by simultaneously performing adaptations using web novel originals and its own original planning. The goal is to secure exclusive creators and strengthen planning capabilities to possess a cumulative total of 100 original IPs within three years. The company is also pursuing the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based production tools. The company has an organization in charge of AI research and app development and has filed four patents related to webtoon production automation.
The company emphasized its production capabilities specialized in the action and fantasy genres and the business achievements of its IPs. Most K-webtoons that are confirmed for animation fall into the action and fantasy genres, but there is a shortage of supply because they require high drawing difficulty and directing capabilities. Monster Riot focused on this market and optimized the entire production process for the genre since its founding. The achievement of linking three out of ten owned IPs to secondary business contracts such as games and video within two years after the seed investment also served as a basis for the company's high valuation. Based on this, the trust secured from existing investors led to the attraction of new funds.
The company plans to focus on strengthening webtoon production capabilities. It intends to secure creative personnel, which is the core of the content business, and expand its IP portfolio together with capable creators.
Having worked in the manga industry for a long time, the company saw talented creators unable to continue their activities due to realistic constraints, which served as an opportunity to establish a structure where IPs can be expanded into various businesses. The starting point of the business was to create an environment where creators and production/distribution entities can share achievements and present better content.
The goal is to secure 80 to 100 original IPs within the next 2 to 3 years, expand potential works into various contents and businesses, and achieve a turnaround to profitability by 2028.
※ It is noted that this article was written after verifying the facts through investigation.
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