Dable Secures 14 Billion KRW Series C Funding... Company Valuation Surpasses 100 Billion KRW

- Approximately 30 Billion KRW in Sales Last Year, Over 50% Average Annual Sales Growth Rate Since Establishment

Personalized content recommendation platform Dable (CEO Lee Chae-hyun) announced on the 8th that it has raised 14 billion KRW in Series C funding, recognizing a corporate value of over 100 billion KRW.

This investment round included Kakao Ventures, which has participated in all of Dable's investments from the seed stage to Series C, as well as new investors SV Investment, KB Investment, and K2 Investment Partners. The total amount of investment Dable has raised so far amounts to 22.22 billion KRW, including 1.1 billion KRW in seed money, 1.12 billion KRW in Series A, and 6 billion KRW in Series B. Through this funding, Dable plans to accelerate its expansion into overseas markets.

Dable is a technology company founded in 2015 by key personnel from SK Planet’s in-house venture that developed a big data-based product recommendation platform. Possessing world-class big data processing and personalization technology, Dable collects and analyzes 22 billion media behavior logs monthly from approximately 500 million users domestically and internationally. It recommends about 5 billion high-quality personalized content pieces monthly to media, commerce, and content distributors, generating over 100 million clicks.

Dable analyzes content consumed by users on media sites in real-time and provides personalized news through widgets such as "Articles You May Like" displayed on the right or bottom of the site. Users experience shortened information search processes and receive only content of interest, enhancing satisfaction with media usage. Media outlets benefit from increased content consumption and longer visitor dwell times, establishing a revenue base for producing high-quality content.

Additionally, Dable offers the "Dable Native Ad" service, which displays ads in the recommended article area with the same design as the website UI and surrounding content. Unlike traditional native ads that show ads randomly to all readers, "Dable Native Ad" displays ads tailored to user interests, such as showing airline ticket ads to users reading travel articles.

Moreover, through the RTB-based Dable Native Ad Exchange, Dable can display ads on premium domestic and international media partners, including Google, MSN, and Kakao.

Starting with Japan in 2017, Dable has expanded into overseas markets such as Taiwan, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Malaysia. It has partnered with over 2,500 major Asian media outlets, including Taiwan’s ETtoday (東森新聞雲), LTN (自由電子報), NowNews (今日新聞); Indonesia’s Liputan6, Tempo, Suara; Vietnam’s Thanh Ni?n, Saostar, Bongda; and Malaysia’s Ripple Media, Nanyang, Malaysiakini. Currently, Dable is the most widely used personalized recommendation platform in Korea, Indonesia, and Vietnam, and in Taiwan, it has rapidly grown to surpass monthly sales of 500 million KRW within two years of entry.

Since its establishment, Dable has recorded an average annual sales growth rate of over 50%. Thanks to growth in both domestic and overseas markets, it achieved approximately 30 billion KRW in sales last year. As of December 2020, 30% of Dable’s total sales were generated overseas, and it plans to accelerate overseas market expansion with the goal of servicing all Asian countries by 2024.

A Dable representative stated, "This year, we plan to enter six additional countries including Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, China, Turkey, and Australia. Based on our success in Asia, we also plan to expand our service areas to the United States and Europe."

Kakao Ventures Vice President Kim Ki-jun said, "Dable is a company with solid technological capabilities. It is a good example of achieving meaningful business results by applying AI to media and advertising sectors." He added, "Dable is rapidly growing not only in Korea but also overseas. It is a company with a very promising future."

SV Investment Senior Team Leader Jung Joo-wan, a new investor, said, "Dable is a media tech company that helps enhance media competitiveness through world-class personalized recommendation technology." He added, "Dable is maintaining strong growth in Korea while expanding its global sales ratio and operating leverage. We decided to invest because we believe it will become the global No.1 content discovery platform."

Dable CEO Lee Chae-hyun said, "The excellence of Dable’s content recommendation solution has already been proven in several Asian countries including Korea. If Dable becomes a unicorn company, it will be significant due to its large overseas business proportion and its distinction as a software technology company." He continued, "We will aggressively expand overseas markets through this investment. Based on our technological competitiveness, we will become the world’s No.1 personalized recommendation platform."