Web Novel Submission Platform 'Tugohada' Operator Ecne Selected for Ministry of SMEs and Startups TIPS Program

Ecne, the operator of the web novel submission platform 'Tugohada,' announced on the 9th that it has been selected for the private investment-led technology startup investment program 'TIPS,' hosted by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups.

Based on the support from SparkLabs, a global accelerator that has been operating as a private TIPS operator for 10 years, Ecne was selected for TIPS and will receive up to 700 million KRW over the next two years, including 500 million KRW for research and development (R&D) funds and 200 million KRW for commercialization and overseas marketing funds.

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Tugohada provides web novel authors with information to find suitable publishers for their submissions, including publisher-specific ▲genres accepted for submission ▲ratings and reviews ▲past published works ▲and cumulative promotional statistics targeting the three major web novel platforms.

Since its service launch in October 2022, Tugohada has secured about 12,000 web novel author members and 161 registered publishers in approximately two years, with a cumulative total of about 160,000 authors having used Tugohada.

With this TIPS selection, Tugohada plans to expand its content area to include webtoons as well as discover excellent web novel intellectual properties (IPs) with high potential for secondary creations such as short dramas and movies.

Minho Kim, CEO of Ecne, said, "Tugohada's operational goal is to solve the information asymmetry problem between web novel authors and publishers while supporting effective creative activities and promotion between them." He added, "We will activate the IP open market so that capable IPs do not stop at primary creation but continue to secondary creations such as video adaptations."

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