Notetaking app Goodnotes invests $1.9M in digital stationary firm WeBudding

Weeks after launching a digital stationary retailer throughout the app, notetaking firm Goodnotes stated as we speak it has invested $1.9 million into South Korea-based digital stationary firm WeBudding.

WeBudding was based by Donghwan Shin, Donggyun Ko, and Chaeyoung Lee in 2018. The trio began by promoting bodily paper notebooks catered in the direction of college college students, however ultimately, they made a digital pivot. Now it sells numerous digital stationary gadgets corresponding to planners, journals, stickers, and notebooks. The corporate advised TechCrunch that 80% of its gross sales come from cell whereas 20% of it comes from its web sites.

Other than the funding from Goodnotes, WeBudding has additionally obtained a $200,000 funding from Robust Ventures — making this a $2.1 million Sequence A spherical. The digital stationary startup has acquired $4.7 million in funding to this point.  Whereas the corporate didn’t disclose the precise valuation, it advised TechCrunch that the newest spherical introduced a 52% bounce in valuation.

WeBudding already hosted quite a lot of Goodnotes-compatible belongings on its platforms. With the current Goodnotes retailer launch and the strategic funding, WeBudding plans to develop globally related content material for the notetaking app’s retailer.

Shin, CEO of the digital stationery startup, stated that WeBudding is seeking to enhance its cell app and likewise work on content material localization for various nations.

“We’re additionally engaged on increasing our choices to issues like KakaoTalk [a South Korea-based chat app] themes. Moreover, we wish to work with well-known IPs corresponding to entertainers and musicians to create branded digital stationary,” Chin stated.

WeBudding stated that it has 2,500 creators on board with greater than 16,000 gadgets within the retailer. It didn’t disclose the way it compensates these creators and what number lower the corporate takes from the gross sales of the digital stationary.

In August, Goodnotes up to date its app in 4 years with options corresponding to AI-powered handwriting and a digital market. The corporate, which obtained the iPad App of the Yr award from Apple in 2022, has 21 million month-to-month energetic customers.