The Pinkfong Company

SmartStudy was established in 2010.⁠[1]

In 2015 SmartStudy was connecting IoT devices and toys to mobile apps and agreed to supply Pinkfong content to China’s WASU; its subscription cost $9.9 a month for access to 5,000 videos. The company said its apps had reached 70 million downloads and 8.8 million monthly active users worldwide, with its strongest base in Asia, and planned offices in China and the U.S. to make local content.⁠[2]

By February 2016 SmartStudy had received $8.6 million in Series A funding from KDB Capital and IBK Capital, and had recorded $8 million in sales the previous year.⁠[3]

In November 2018 SmartStudy was preparing to go public in 2020 and had asked several major securities firms for proposals to manage its initial public offering. Its 2017 sales were ₩27.2 billion, with operating profit of ₩1.9 billion.⁠[1]

Baby Shark’s Big Show!, a preschool series of 26 half-hour episodes co-produced by SmartStudy and Nickelodeon, premiered on Nickelodeon on March 26, 2021, with Kimiko Glenn voicing Baby Shark.⁠[4]

On May 28, 2021, SmartStudy premiered Pinkfong’s official animated music video for NCT DREAM’s Hot Sauce; an earlier Dinosaurs A to Z cover with the group had reached 10 million views in two weeks.⁠[5]

On June 10, 2021, SmartStudy subsidiary Baby Shark Games launched the puzzle game Shark Blast, with 33 episodes and 1,600 levels in nine languages, available in 177 countries on Google PlayGoogle PlayGoogle Play is a digital content distribution service operated by Google, centered on the Google Play Store, the app store for Android devices. Its predecessor, Android Market, launched in October 2008 alongside the first Android phone, and in March 2012 it merged with Google Music and the Google eBookstore and was renamed Google Play. As the main distribution channel for Android apps, its commissions, billing rules, and review practices have drawn controversy, including the Epic Games antitrust lawsuit in the United States and penalties under the European Union’s Digital Markets Act.Open the full entry and 176 on the App Store.⁠[6]

In July 2021 Smart Study Ventures, SmartStudy’s venture capital subsidiary, formed a Baby Shark-branded fund for content startups targeting ₩45 billion; it had already exceeded its original ₩30 billion goal and would invest in content IP such as webtoons, web novels and short-form video.⁠[7]

In September 2021 SmartStudy ran a Pinkfong showcase with the crowdfunding platform Wadiz, offering six new products from five brands, including a sofa made with the furniture brand iloom and a hand sanitizer that plays a Baby Shark song.⁠[8]

On December 7 the company opened early-bird sales for the family musical 핑크퐁과 아기상어의 월드투어쇼 (Pinkfong and Baby Shark’s World Tour Show), scheduled at Seoul Olympic Park from January 21 to March 1, 2022.⁠[9]

On December 9 SmartStudy released an AR filter featuring “NCT-REX,” a character combining Pinkfong and NCT DREAM, its third collaboration with the group.⁠[10]

On January 6, 2022, SmartStudy renamed itself The Pinkfong Company to reflect its move from children’s educational services into original content and IP for all ages; it also announced its first digital comics and novels series, Moon Shark, with M Story Hub, and opened its fifth office, in Singapore, to expand across Southeast Asia.⁠[11]

In February 2022 the company announced it would co-produce KBS 2TV’s new music show 국민동요 프로젝트 아기싱어, which set out to create a new children’s song for the 100th Children’s Day and premiered on March 12.⁠[12]

In April 2022 the company and LG Electronics released a YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry campaign video using Baby Shark to present the features of the LG Trom Washtower.⁠[13]

Ahead of Earth Day the company released a 35-minute playlist of 15 climate-themed videos on Pinkfong YouTube channels in six languages and launched Baby Shark lunch bags made of recycled PET; its environmental series had reached 85 videos.⁠[14]

In September 2022 the company partnered with Grupo Globo to stream 65 Baby Shark episodes on Giga Gloob, a Brazilian kids’ streaming service, with Lotus Global to bring Pinkfong consumer products to Brazil by mid-2023.⁠[15]

In October 2022 the company won the “Best Creator” award at the Asia Contents Awards 2022, having submitted Bebefinn, Pinkfong Wonderstar and Visit Dr. Hero; it had earlier been named to TIMETIMETIME is an American newsmagazine and media brand founded by Henry Luce and Briton Hadden, which published its first issue on March 3, 1923; it is headquartered in New York and known for its Person of the Year selection and the TIME100 list. Since 2018 it has been personally owned by Marc and Lynne Benioff; its current Chief Executive Officer is Jessica Sibley, and its Editor-in-Chief is Sam Jacobs.Open the full entry’s 2022 “TIME100 Most Influential Companies” list.⁠[16]

“핑크퐁 서울 공원 대탐험,” an event the company held with the Seoul city government across five parks, drew more than 40,000 visitors in its first 10 days.⁠[17]

The 3D series Bebefinn launched on Netflix on December 15, 2022, and within a week entered the Netflix kids’ top 10 in nine countries, which the company called a first for a Korean animation; it ranked second in the U.S., New Zealand and South Africa.⁠[18]

About two months after its debut, the 3D series SEALOOK reached 100,000 YouTube subscribers on February 6, 2023, and 10 million views.⁠[19]

In April 2023 the company launched original podcasts exclusive to Apple Podcasts: three English shows for listeners in more than 170 regions and five free Korean shows for South Korea.⁠[20]

In June 2023 the company signed a memorandum of understanding with Haichang Ocean Park and held a Pinkfong Baby Shark festival in Shanghai from June 1 to 30.⁠[21]

On June 20 the Bebefinn YouTube channel, launched in April 2022, passed 10 million subscribers after 14 months, the fastest of any Pinkfong channel.⁠[22]

In July 2023 Pinkfong became the first Korean children’s brand to pass 1 billion cumulative streams on SpotifySpotifySpotify is an audio streaming subscription service offering on-demand music, podcasts, and audiobooks through a free ad-supported service and a paid Premium subscription. Its parent company, Spotify Technology S.A., is incorporated in Luxembourg, has its principal operations in Stockholm, Sweden, and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker SPOT). It helped move the recorded-music business from buying and owning music to on-demand streaming and is one of the largest audio streaming subscription services by users.Open the full entry, with 4.3 million monthly listeners; Baby Shark accounted for 580 million streams.⁠[23]

Expanding its partnership with Haichang Ocean Park, the company began operating a Baby Shark-themed river cruise along Shanghai’s Bund on September 25, 2023, a 90-minute, roughly 20-kilometer trip for up to 618 passengers.⁠[24]

In October 2023, after its second season launched, Bebefinn reached No. 1 on Netflix’s U.S. kids chart, also topped the charts in Singapore, South Korea and Ireland, and charted in 18 countries.⁠[25]

On November 28, 2023, the 24-hour channel BABY SHARK TV launched on Rakuten’s free R Channel in Japan, its 11th launch worldwide; the company said the channel’s 2022 revenue grew 237% year over year.⁠[26]

In January 2024 Bebefinn Playtime, the first Bebefinn spinoff, topped Netflix’s daily kids’ TV chart in eight countries; the franchise had more than 24 million YouTube subscribers as of December 2023.⁠[27]

In March 2025 the company opened its fifth global office, in Tokyo, led by Chief Business Officer Gemma Joo, to expand media distribution, live shows and partnerships in Japan.⁠[28]

In April 2025 the company signed a strategic partnership with Japan’s TBS Television to develop, distribute and market kids and family content in Japan; its Japanese YouTube channel had passed 2.45 billion cumulative views.⁠[29]

The company scheduled its first Bebefinn feature, Bebefinn Sing-Along Movie: Into The Pinkfong World, for release on July 25, 2025, in more than 120 cinemas in the U.K. and Ireland.⁠[30]

In September 2025, after passing the Korea Exchange’s preliminary review, the company filed a KOSDAQ registration statement with the Financial Services Commission to issue 2 million shares at ₩32,000–₩38,000 each. On a consolidated basis, its 2024 revenue was ₩97.4 billion, up 11%, with operating profit of ₩18.8 billion and overseas sales at 76%.⁠[31]

From October 2025 Bebefinn aired on TBS and SEALOOK on TV Tokyo in Japan.⁠[32]

The company added Minjee, a Korean neighbor, to Bebefinn; her episodes passed 30 million YouTube views in three weeks.⁠[33]

The company was selected to lead the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s ₩10 billion “2025 K-콘텐츠 AI 혁신 선도 프로젝트,” planning an AI immersive exhibition that responds in real time to visitors’ movements, expressions and voices.⁠[34]

The company said its Baby Shark and Bebefinn events at five Indonesian malls from June 13 to July 20 drew about 2.8 million visitors.⁠[35]

On October 31 the company released Kikipuppup, a new series co-produced with TBS in Japanese, Korean and English, premiering the English version on YouTube, with a TBS broadcast set for 2026.⁠[36]

In institutional demand forecasting from October 28 to November 3, 2,300 institutions took part at a 615.9-to-1 ratio, and the company set the offer price at the top of the range, ₩38,000.⁠[37]

Retail subscription on November 6–7 drew an 846.9-to-1 ratio and about ₩8.05 trillion in deposits; the company said the proceeds would fund new IP, production upgrades, premium animation and global location-based entertainment, with Mirae Asset Securities and Samsung Securities as joint lead underwriters.⁠[38]

On November 18 its shares began trading on KOSDAQ (ticker 403850), opening at ₩58,000, 52.6% above the offer price; the IPO raised about ₩76 billion and valued the company at about ₩545.3 billion at listing.⁠[39]

SEALOOK, a short-form 3D series co-produced with Million Volt, launched on Netflix on October 20 and entered the daily top 10 in nine countries, including South Korea, India, Singapore and the U.S.⁠[40]

The company announced a new original Bebefinn musical to run at Yonsei University’s Centennial Memorial Hall from December 19, 2025, to January 4, 2026.⁠[41]

In March 2026 the company partnered with Supertone, HYBE’s AI voice company, to let fans make memes and dubbed videos with character voices from REDREX, a short office-comedy animation launched in October 2025 that had gained more than 500,000 social media followers and 21 million TikTok views.⁠[42]

In October 2026 the Pinkfong Español YouTube channel, launched in 2016, passed 20 million subscribers and 13.37 billion cumulative views.⁠[43]

As of October 2026 the company’s Korean website named Kim Min-seok (김민석) as its representative and listed two office addresses in Seocho District, Seoul.⁠[44]

The Pinkfong Company: Official website: https://www.thepinkfongcompany.com/en (opens in a new window)⁠[45]

Pinkfong: Official website: https://www.pinkfong.com/en (opens in a new window)⁠[46]

LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: Official account: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thepinkfongcompany (opens in a new window)⁠[45]

X: Official account: https://x.com/Pinkfong (opens in a new window)⁠[46]

YouTube: Official account: https://www.youtube.com/@Pinkfong (opens in a new window)⁠[46]