South Korean content discovery firm bags $12m in SV Investment-led round

Dable, a South Korea-based content discovery platform, has raised US$12 million in a series C round, which pushed its valuation to more than US$90 million.

SV Investment led the round along with other new backers KB Investment and K2 Investment Partners, as well as existing investor Kakao Ventures, according to a statement.

To date, Dable has raised a total of US$20 million over four funding rounds. In 2018, it secured US$5.4 million in its series B round.

Dable co-founder and CEO Chaehyun Lee / Photo credit: Dable

Founded in 2015, Dable recommends personalized content to media, ecommerce, and other content providers using its AI solution. It helps media companies boost their revenue by increasing their users’ content consumption and dwell time.

Dable also helps advertisers place ads on its premium media partner sites, as well as on Google, MSN, and Kakao.

With the new funds, the startup will fuel its expansion in Asia and boost its presence in growth markets.

Currently covering the South Korean, Japanese, Taiwanese, Indonesian, Vietnamese, and Malaysian markets, it will enter six additional markets this year: Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, mainland China, Australia, and Turkey. It aims to serve all Asian countries by 2024 and expand to the US and Europe as well.

To date, Dable said it recommends 5 billion pieces of content to 500 million users per month. Last year, its sales reached about US$27.5 million, increasing by 63% from 2019 after the company had expanded into different markets in Asia.