Diversified internet company Daum Kakao is set to launch a KRW 100bn ($91m) corporate venturing fund, Yonhap News Agency reported on Monday.
South Korea-based Daum Kakao was established in October after online messaging service Kakao and internet portal Daum Communications merged to form a company worth about $9.4bn.
The launch of the unit, K Venture Group, is expected to be approved by Daum Kakao’s board on January 23rd next year.
Although the company has not revealed which sectors it will target, K Venture is being formed in order to help diversify its operations so that it does not rely as heavily on Kakao’s messaging app.
Naver, Korea’s other large internet company, is the owner of Japan-based messaging service Line, through which it has begun investing in mobile gaming. Line formed a $100m corporate venturing fund in August and partnered with China-based Tencent on a $110m investment in mobile game developer 4:33 Creative Lab last month.