Kakao, the operator of South Korea’s top mobile messenger KakaoTalk, on Monday said its contents business unit Podotree has secured a 125 billion won ($106.6 million) investment from a consortium led by Anchor Equity Partners.

Established in 2010, Podotree is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kakao which operates the Korean mobile giant’s two contents platforms — Daum Webtoon and Kakao Page.

Under the investment deal, Podotree will issue new common shares which will be purchased by the Asian private equity firm and its consortium partner GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, Kakao said.

“By scoring this investment, Podotree’s market valuation now reaches around 500 billion won,” Kakao said in a statement.

“This achievement confirms the value and potential of Kakao Page, which has managed to successfully adapt to the mobile contents age, as well as Korea’s leading online comics platform Daum Webtoon,” Podotree CEO Lee Jin-soo said.

Podotree plans to focus on attracting more original contents to its platforms and expand into the video and advertising sector in addition to its traditional webtoons and fiction novel contents businesses.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)