Apr 2, 2018

Visual from Watcha Inc's website April 2, 2018 South Korea-based Watcha Inc , the operator of subscription video-on-demand streaming platform Watcha Play , has raised $12 million in Series C funding round led by a number of investors, including Neoplux and Songhyun Investment. Watcha Inc, formerly known as Frograms Inc, announced that the latest funding round brings its total fundraising to $21 million, after starting out with an $800,000 in seed funding from Kakao Ventures in 2016. Watcha Inc is the first portfolio company of Kakao Ventures, one of the early-stage venture capital firms in South Korea, with a focus on everything mobile and software “These new investments will allow us to strengthen our domestic presence and to expand our business to global markets,” said Watcha Inc CEO Taehoon Park said The funding round was backed by Neoplux, AJU IB Investment, Cognitive Investment, Leo Partners Investment, MG Investment, Songhyun Investment, and Hashed. Watcha Inc launched Watcha, a machine-driven personalised content recommendation service, in 2013. It then launched Watcha Play, a subscription VOD streaming service, in 2016. Watcha expanded its entertainment category to books in 2017 and since then has collected 4.2 million rating data of books, the company said. On the other hand, Watcha Play recently concluded its licensing agreements with HBO, MBC, and other major networks. Additionally, Watcha Inc said the name change from Frograms Inc is part of its efforts to strengthen its brand identity. The name of its Japanese subsidiary, Watcha Inc, has been accordingly changed to Watcha Japan Inc. Watcha’s expansion in the VOD market comes at a time when global VOD subscription is forecast to further expand in the coming years. A report released by Digital TV Research last October 2017 predicted that paid subscriptions to VOD offerings are on course to reach 546 million 2022 globally, twice as many as the 263 million recorded at the end of 2016. Of the total, 43 per cent of subscribers will be from the Asia Pacific region by 2022, from 35 per cent in 2016, while 31 per cent of the subscribers will reside in North America. Also Read: