[Dongguk University Campus Town X IT Donga] Dongguk University has been participating in the Seoul Campus Town project since 2022, creating a startup ecosystem in the northwest urban area. By supporting deep tech and cultural content startups, it has been selected as an excellent case of startup incubation for two consecutive years and received an A+ grade in the 2024 Seoul Campus Town performance evaluation. IT Donga introduces promising startups developing alongside Dongguk University Campus Town.

The era of short-form content has arrived. Videos of about one minute have become mainstream in the content market. The influence of short content has expanded beyond videos to the webtoon market. According to the '2024 Comic Industry White Paper' published by the Korea Creative Content Agency, the usage rate of webtoons on Instagram reached 20.9%, surpassing Kakao Webtoon (20.8%) for the first time. The market, which was only 5.9% in 2021, has grown nearly fourfold in three years. The search volume for Instatoons on Instagram amounts to 2.34 million. This indicates an increased demand for short and light webtoons, known as short-toons, that can be enjoyed in less than 20 cuts.

However, as the popularity of short-toons accelerates, the concerns of creators deepen. It is difficult to gain recognition for artistic value due to the focus on short works, and the monetization structure is unclear. The exposure structure of social media is based on an ambiguous algorithm, so even short-toons with excellent artistic value often go unnoticed. A startup has emerged that focuses on this market niche: LitTOON, a platform specializing in short-toons.



LitTOON is a platform specializing in short webtoons, or short-toons, ranging from one to a maximum of 20 cuts. The ambition is to make short-toons mainstream in the content market rather than a fringe. LitTOON is speeding up the recruitment of creators ahead of its official service launch in November 2025. What are LitTOON's service strategies and plans? A conversation was held with Park Haetnim, CEO of LitTOON, who is busy with final preparations before the official service launch.

Instatoons should be treated as works, not hobbies

“There are many good Instatoon works, but due to the nature of the platform, the creative activities of creators are often perceived as 'hobbies,' which is unfortunate. The user-friendliness of Instagram is also an issue. Readers follow creators to see their works, but personal posts are also exposed in the feed. Even if creators serialize multiple works, it is difficult to categorize and display them separately. Therefore, I felt the need for a space where creators can freely continue their creative activities and fans can focus on the works.”

CEO Park Haetnim felt the need for a space where creators and readers could gather to enjoy works and communicate comfortably, leading to the establishment of the LitTOON platform. By classifying short comic content like Instatoons, ranging from one to 20 cuts, as 'short-toons,' differentiation was seen as possible.

Instagram, where Instatoons are posted, is a social media platform with over 3 billion monthly active users worldwide as of the second quarter of 2025, making it highly influential. However, it is not a platform for serializing or enjoying webtoons, which causes inconvenience. For example, keyword searches are not possible, making it difficult to find desired content, and the mix of creators' daily lives and works makes it hard to focus on the works.

LitTOON has prepared three differentiation strategies as a short-toon specialized platform. The focus is on allowing both readers and creators to experience values that Instagram does not provide.

The first differentiation element is 'separation.' Many Instagram readers who enjoy Instatoons use secondary accounts to avoid exposing personal information, despite the inconvenience. This is due to concerns that using their main account would expose their follow or activity history to their surroundings. LitTOON is designed for subscribers to enjoy works anonymously and freely. It also features communication functions such as comments and Q&A. This strategy satisfies the modern desire to separate personal hobbies and daily life.

Another differentiation element pursued by LitTOON is 'growth.' LitTOON aims to be a nurturing space for rookie creators entering the platform to grow into professional creators. CEO Park Haetnim stated, “I don't want to limit it to a space for promoting my works. I want to create an opportunity for individual creators to grow by organizing exhibitions with creators of similar tendencies or supporting fan meetings.”



Data analysis is also cited as a differentiation point for LitTOON. Taking advantage of being a short-toon specialized platform, it can provide tailored information to creators and readers who enjoy short-toons. The platform is actively working on service enhancement while receiving feedback from creators and readers.

LitTOON has also focused on establishing a monetization and platform business model for creators. A representative example is the sale of merchandise using the intellectual property (IP) of popular short-toon creators. There are also plans to act as an agency connecting advertisers who want to use popular short-toons in advertisements with creators. The advertising agency business reflects the field experience of CEO Park Haetnim, who has a background in advertising agencies. CEO Park Haetnim stated, “Due to the characteristics of social media, where searches are difficult, it was challenging to select the creators desired by advertisers. However, LitTOON can recommend creators that meet advertisers' needs based on data-driven analysis.”

Overcoming challenges with 'trust' and 'expertise'

The path for a new content platform is not easy. The challenge is to gather creators to post works on the platform and attract readers. There is also a need to recruit development personnel to manage the service and add new functions. CEO Park Haetnim stated, “Even if I send direct messages (DMs) to creators, it is difficult to gain trust as a new platform. Securing talented development personnel who sympathize with LitTOON's value is also a practical difficulty.”

LitTOON has implemented plans to overcome these challenges. First, LitTOON recruited an expert with 12 years of experience in the content industry as the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). With the addition of an expert with a high understanding of the content industry, it is expected to unravel the complex marketing that requires persuading both creators and readers. CEO Park Haetnim stated, “I judged that securing marketing capabilities is necessary for the growth of the platform business. I think the addition of an expert with know-how and a network in the content industry has brought us closer to readers and creators.”

LitTOON is also recruiting additional full-stack developers. Through talent acquisition, the plan is to accelerate the development of technology for building the LitTOON community. In addition, the platform is expanding its functions by communicating with creators. Since 2024, CEO Park Haetnim has met with over 100 creators to gather opinions on what LitTOON needs. By meeting short-toon creators from various fields such as housewives, office workers, and individual business owners, the business model foundation was established.

Wanting LitTOON to become synonymous with 'short-toons'

LitTOON has demonstrated the potential of a short-toon platform by winning awards such as the Encouragement Award at the KAIST Open Venture Lab Program and the Grand Prize at the W-Startup Demo Day. The platform is also exploring distribution channels by signing Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with youth community companies, webtoon production companies, and character production companies. In preparation for global expansion, it has established a cooperative relationship with a local company in Vietnam.



LitTOON was selected as a resident company of Dongguk University Campus Town in recognition of its potential as a short-toon platform in 2025. Dongguk University provided office space support and mentoring programs necessary for business operation to ensure stable growth. CEO Park Haetnim stated, “Beyond physical support, gaining necessary information through communication channels is a great help. The presence of many webtoon and animation-related personnel within Campus Town is also attractive. Thanks to the mentoring and support programs of Dongguk University Campus Town, the LitTOON platform seems to have been built more solidly.”

“Just as Naver has become synonymous with webtoons, I want LitTOON to become synonymous with short-toons. I imagine a scene where everyone watches LitTOON's content as a habit before going to bed. The goal is to become the number one service in the short-toon field.”

LitTOON's goal is to become an essential entertainment service deeply embedded in daily life. To achieve this goal, the platform is strengthening its technological capabilities and establishing a pipeline to respond promptly to the reactions of creators and readers. CEO Park Haetnim stated, “Fun is basic, and we constantly ponder what differentiated experiences only LitTOON can provide. We will strive to create a world where short but brilliant works are properly evaluated.”

IT Donga Reporter Kang Hyung-seok (redbk@itdonga.com)

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