{"rewrite":{"id":"r_690449ca36d82d15f4e75ce6","clusterId":"c_4821ff7cccbd1e17a3393dde","slug":"naver-ventures-invests-in-emmy-winning-studio-baobab-for-new-webtoon","model":"deepseek-v4-flash","headline":"Naver Ventures Invests in Emmy-Winning Studio Baobab for New Webtoon","summary":"Naver Ventures, the U.S. investment arm of NAVER, the parent company of WEBTOON Entertainment, has made a strategic investment in Baobab Studios, the 10-time Emmy-winning animation studio behind Namoo and Crow: The Legend. The partnership pairs Baobab with WEBTOON on SHINE, an original fantasy adventure webcomic by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Erick Oh and webtoon creator Madeleine Rosca, set in a futuristic Korea.","whyItMatters":"The deal ties a webtoon platform's parent to an animation studio on SHINE, a webcomic Baobab will expand into film, television, streaming, and gaming while keeping those rights itself.","webCardHtml":"\u003cp\u003eSHINE follows a half-human girl who must bridge the divide between the human and spirit worlds to save Korea, after the balance between the two has been shattered. Baobab is developing the title as a webtoon with WEBTOON alongside a print graphic novel from First Second Books, an imprint of Macmillan Publishers.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBaobab will keep the film, television, streaming, and gaming rights to the property as it expands the IP across formats. The studio announced the investment on Wednesday.\u003c/p\u003e","blueskyPost":"Naver Ventures, the U.S. investment arm of WEBTOON's parent NAVER, has invested in Emmy-winning animation studio Baobab. The pair are working on SHINE, a fantasy webcomic by Erick Oh and Madeleine Rosca set in a futuristic Korea, with a First Second Books graphic novel to follow.","twitterPost":"Naver Ventures, the U.S. arm of WEBTOON parent NAVER, invested in Emmy-winning studio Baobab. Together they are developing SHINE, a fantasy webcomic by Erick Oh and Madeleine Rosca, plus a First Second Books graphic novel.","threadsPost":null,"newsletterBlurb":"Naver Ventures, the U.S. investment arm of WEBTOON's parent company NAVER, has made a strategic investment in Baobab Studios, the 10-time Emmy-winning animation studio. The partnership brings Baobab and WEBTOON together on SHINE, a fantasy adventure webcomic by Erick Oh and Madeleine Rosca set in a futuristic Korea, with Baobab retaining the film, television, streaming, and gaming rights.","attributionJson":"[{\"source\":\"Anime News Network\",\"url\":\"https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2026-09-04/webtoon-parent-company-naver-invests-in-emmy-winning-animation-studio-baobab-studios/.241353\",\"title\":\"WEBTOON's Parent Company Naver Invests in Emmy-Winning Animation Studio Baobab Studios\"}]","lintFlagsJson":null,"lintHits":0,"costUsd":0,"inputTokens":4212,"outputTokens":2592,"status":"published","repairAttempts":0,"nextRepairAt":null,"factsAttemptedAt":1788529513,"createdAt":"2026-09-04T13:25:55.000Z","publishedAt":"2026-09-04T13:29:03.000Z","updatedAt":"2026-09-04T13:29:03.000Z"},"cluster":{"id":"c_4821ff7cccbd1e17a3393dde","canonicalTitle":"News\nWEBTOON's Parent Company Naver Invests in Emmy-Winning Animation Studio Baobab Studios","representativeArticleId":"a_3832bb533db8ca9fc607d26c","sourceCount":1,"writtenSourceCount":1,"writeAttempts":0,"isSolo":true,"entitiesJson":"{\"anime_titles\":[],\"manga_titles\":[],\"work_titles\":[],\"studios\":[\"Baobab Studios\"],\"people\":[\"Erick Oh\",\"Madeleine Rosca\"],\"type\":\"business\",\"domain\":\"industry\",\"is_roundup\":false}","contentType":"news","status":"published","firstSeenAt":"2026-09-04T12:45:00.000Z","lastSeenAt":"2026-09-04T12:45:00.000Z","updatedAt":"2026-09-04T13:29:03.000Z"},"attribution":[{"source":"Anime News Network","url":"https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2026-09-04/webtoon-parent-company-naver-invests-in-emmy-winning-animation-studio-baobab-studios/.241353","title":"News\nWEBTOON's Parent Company Naver Invests in Emmy-Winning Animation Studio Baobab Studios"}],"entities":{"anime_titles":[],"manga_titles":[],"work_titles":[],"studios":["Baobab Studios"],"people":["Erick Oh","Madeleine Rosca"],"type":"business","domain":"industry","is_roundup":false},"keyFacts":null}