Kakao, the operator of South Korea’s top mobile messenger KakaoTalk, opened Tuesday a new crowdfunding platform to support local content creators and their work.

The new platform, called “People Funding,” is the latest in a series of crowdfunding projects introduced by Kakao over the past two years, including “Story Funding” and “Heart Funding.”

Story Funding, which was introduced in 2015, focuses on financing a particular story or project. However, People Funding aims to provide more support for creators themselves, the firm said.


“With People Funding, we want to bring crowdfunding deeper into the local content sector,” said Kim Gwi-hyun, director of Kakao’s Story Funding division.

“We hope to foster a new ecosystem in which creators can focus on their creative projects without worrying about finances,” Kim said.

A creator’s goal is to attract as many supporters as possible. These supporters then provide monthly donations to the creator they support for six months or up to one year.

Supporters can decide on the amount they want to send. In turn, creators are able to receive a steady income for a period of time, during which they can focus on their projects.

Current People Funding candidates include writer Kim Tak-hwan who authored a novel about civilian divers involved in the rescue operations during the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster, and Kim Hye-won, the wife of one such diver who committed suicide after suffering from the mental and physical effects of intensive rescue work under the sea. 

Other crowdfunding candidates include investigative journalist Park Sang-kyu, traveler Kim Nam-hee who has been recording scenes from the ongoing conflict in Syria, artist Cho Yoon-jin and aspiring guitarist Ko Woo-hyun, who is disabled.

People Funding projects can be viewed via Kakao’s existing Story Funding page at http://storyfunding.daum.net.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)