A startup’s dream comes true as SundayToz, the developer of the hit game Anipang, is set to be listed on the KOSDAQ later this year. The game developer will enter the Korean financial market by way of a merger with Hana Green SPAC in October following a meeting of stockholders in September.
SundayToz made a total of 23.8 billion won last year with a net profit of 7.58 billion won in that same period. With such success it’s difficult to call the company a startup much longer as it leads the game market and rises as a mid-sized company past other major players such as Gamevil and Com2Us. CEO Kevin Lee commented on the upcoming merger, saying,
“We decided to list ourselves in order to speed up help with mobile game publishing, M&A and investment in other game developers and global expansion. We judged that it might be late if we didn’t act fast in accelerating the business, and made the decision that now was the right time to list it.”
SundayToz has focused its sights on establishing a strategy so that it can quickly expand into the global market with backing from other major companies including WeMade Entertainment and CJ E&M Netmarble. Going global with smaller and mid-sized companies to bring games to the international market together also influenced yesterday’s decision to go public.
Anipang has only been on Kakao’s Game Center for 10 months, when the platform was first launched. The game was a hit with all ages, including young children, office workers and the older generation, and failed to budge from the top 5 apps for revenue on Google Play.
SundayToz also seems to want to become the next Angry Birds, with characters from the Anipang game being released in the form of cellphone cases, cakes and other items. Lee talked about this new avenue for his company, saying,
“The game character business has always been localized to children’s products. Just as Anipang has shown that it is possible for a game that both the young and old can enjoy is able to succeed, we will launch a new set of unique items targeted at all ages in the game character product market.”
The company plans to invest in aggressive expansion with increased funds from the IPO, with a strategy to stabilize the market in a short time by focusing on global service and entering the publishing business. SundayToz has also been acquiring and making strategic investments in other mobile game companies.
A majority of this article was translated and adapted an article by Ok-jin Bae at ET News, a partner of VentureSquare.
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