Ridi Corporation

Ridi Corporation, also known as RIDI Corporation and 리디 주식회사, is a South Korean content-platform company founded in March 2008. It began its e-book business with the launch of Ridibooks in November 2009. According to the supplied Korean Wikipedia entry, the company built a leading position in e-books by promoting the advantages of digital reading and developing its software, then broadened its content business into web novels, webtoons, and short-form dramas from 2018 onward. Its core Korean platform, Ridi, brings together webtoons, web novels, and books. In 2022, the company renamed its flagship Ridibooks service to Ridi and described the change as part of its move toward a broader content platform. Other offerings include Manta, a global webtoon platform launched in North America in November 2020; Ridi Select, a premium content subscription service; the self-publishing platform Diritto; and Ridi Paper e-book readers. Manta introduced a subscription model for webtoons and offers content including Ridi exclusives. The entry records Spanish-language support from January 2023 and French-language service from February 2024. Ridi is based in Korea; the supplied evidence does not provide a more specific headquarters location, founder, or current executive names. In February 2022, it raised investment including from Singapore’s GIC, and the entry says the investment process valued the company at KRW 1.6 trillion, making it the first Korean content-platform startup to attain unicorn status. It remains described as an active company. Its recorded activity includes e-book hardware and subscriptions, content development and adaptation, international licensing, and expansion of its digital-content services into overseas markets.

Ridi Corporation was established in March 2008 as a content-platform company in Korea. It entered the e-book business in November 2009 with the launch of Ridibooks. The supplied Korean-language account describes the early e-book market as unfamiliar to readers and publishers, and says Ridi worked to communicate the benefits of e-books and improve its software. The company subsequently established a leading position in the Korean e-book market. Ridi expanded beyond e-books into web novels and webtoons from 2018, and also developed short-form drama activity. Its content strategy includes adapting web novels into webtoons, a practice referred to in the source as novel comics, and discovering works through webtoon competitions. In 2018, the company acquired the book-marketing service Dinoment, associated with the “책 끝을 접다” channel, launched its premium-content monthly subscription service Ridi Select, and exported Ridi Paper readers to Taiwan. The third-generation Ridi Paper device followed in 2019. In November 2020, Ridi launched Manta in North America as a global webtoon service. The source highlights its subscription model and its offering of content including Ridi-exclusive works. It reports that, a little over a year after launch, Manta ranked first in the comics-app category in the Google Play Store in 16 countries across North America, Europe, and Asia. Spanish-language support was announced in January 2023, and French-language service was added from February 2024. In August 2021, Ridi established Diritto, a platform for open or self-published serial works. In February 2022, Ridi obtained investment including from Singapore’s GIC. The source reports a valuation of KRW 1.6 trillion in connection with the investment and describes the company as the first Korean content-platform startup to become a unicorn. In the same year, it changed the name of its flagship Ridibooks service to Ridi, signaling a broader content-platform identity. It also launched the Ridi Paper 4 e-book reader. Ridi continued international publishing and technology initiatives. In July 2023, it sold English-language publishing rights for the webtoon and web novel Under the Oak Tree to Penguin Random House, and established the AI technology company Prodify. In September 2024, it was selected as the sole Korean company for the Tokyo Stock Exchange-led “Asia Startup Hub” initiative, according to the supplied entry. The source also records a December 2024 Presidential Commendation for overseas expansion and the February 2025 sale of overseas rights for the original novel Plant, Shop in nine countries. The evidence establishes continued platform and international-content activity, but does not identify a founder, a specific headquarters address, or current executives.

• Ridi Corporation established

• Ridibooks launched

• First-generation Paper e-book reader launched

• Paper Pro launched

• Dinoment acquired and Ridi Paper exported to Taiwan

• Ridi Select launched

• Selected for the preliminary-unicorn special guarantee program

• Third-generation Ridi Paper launched

• Manta launched in North America

• Diritto established

• Unicorn status reported

• Ridibooks renamed Ridi

• Ridi Paper 4 launched

• Under the Oak Tree English rights sold; Prodify established

• Selected for the Asia Startup Hub

• Presidential Commendation for overseas expansion

• Plant, Shop rights sold in nine countries

A digital-content platform spanning books, web novels, and webtoons, with a global webtoon subscription service and associated reading devices and services.

• Ridi

  The content platform, renamed from Ridibooks in 2022, offering webtoons, web novels, and books.

• Manta

  A global webtoon platform launched in North America in November 2020, using a subscription model.

• Ridi Paper

  Ridi's line of e-book readers, with documented launches including Paper, Paper Pro, and Ridi Paper 4.

• Ridi Select

  A premium-content monthly subscription service launched in 2018.

• Diritto

  An open-serialization platform established in 2021.

• Renamed Ridibooks to RidiOther

• Manta elevated to an internal independent companyOther

1. 1리디 주식회사ko.wikipedia.org
2. 2Ridi Corporationwikidata.org
3. 3Ridi Corporation official websiteridicorp.com