(Bloomberg) -- Online comics company Webtoon Entertainment Inc. is seeking to raise as much as $315 million in a US initial public offering after backer Naver Corp. this year accelerated plans for its market debut.

Los Angeles-based Webtoon is offering 15 million shares for $18 to $21 each, according to a filing on Monday. Accounts managed by BlackRock Inc. have indicated an interest in purchasing up to $50 million in shares as a cornerstone investor, the filing said.

Naver will own more than 60% of the company’s shares after the offering is completed and Tokyo-based LY Corp. will have about a 25% stake, according to the filing. 

Webtoon, which connects creators of the short-form digital comics with viewers, filed publicly for a Nasdaq listing in May. Bloomberg News had reported in February that it could seek to raise as much as $500 million at a valuation of $3 billion to $4 billion.

The offering is being led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Evercore Inc. The company plans for its shares to trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol WBTN.

Naver, which provides online services from search and shopping to social media, had considered listing the Webtoon business since 2021, around the time the novel medium began to catch on in major markets such as the US. Today, webtoons are considered one of South Korea’s more successful cultural exports alongside K-pop and drama series, driving business for Naver and rival Kakao Corp.

Webtoon connects 24 million creators with about 170 million monthly active users in more than 150 countries. It had a net loss of $145 million on revenue of $1.28 billion last year, according to Monday’s filing.

Companies have raised nearly $20 billion this year via IPOs on US exchanges, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That compares with roughly $11 billion at this point last year, the data show.

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