Radish, a mobile reading app launched in 2016 that offers serialized bingeable fiction supported by a micropayment platform, has secured $63.2 million in new series A funding led by investors SoftBank Ventures Asia and Kakao Page Corp.
The new round brings Radish total funding to more than $68 million to-date. In addition, Radish has opened a new office in Los Angeles with plans to extend and adapt its original IP into the multimedia, TV/film, gaming and entertainment performance markets.
Radish CEO and founder Seungyoon Lee said, “We feel we can lead the market by providing hyper-serialized fiction that updates multiple times a day, unlike other serialized storytelling verticals such as online video streaming or podcasts which takes several months or even years to produce a season.”
The Radish business model is based on similar popular reading platforms in Korea and China. The platform specializes in a wide range of short serialized genre fiction including romance and paranormal/sci-fi, with plans to expand further into LGBTQ material, young adult, horror, mystery and thriller categories. The app encourages readers to test its content by offering early chapter/episodes for free or the reader can make inexpensive micropayments (roughly 20 to 30 cents) to open an episode prior to its scheduled release.
Radish has produced more than 6,500 episodes across more than 30 original series. Its series are produced TV-style, using veteran soap-opera writers and writer’s rooms to collectively generate serialized content.
SoftBank Ventures Asia CEO and managing partner JP Lee, said in a statement: “Radish has proven that its serialized novel platform can change the way people consume online content, and we are excited to support the company’s continued disruption in the mobile fiction space. Leveraging our global SoftBank ecosystem, we hope to support and accelerate Radish's expansion across different regions worldwide."
