Two immigrants, a mobile-storytelling idea, and a $754 million buyer
Wattpad
Allen Lau and Ivan Yuen started a story-sharing platform out of a Toronto garage in 2006. Fifteen years later, a South Korean tech giant bought it.
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Wattpad was co-founded in November 2006 by Allen Lau and Ivan Yuen, immigrants who started the digital storytelling platform in a Toronto garage with a vision to revolutionize story sharing via mobile devices. Both were University of Toronto alumni.
From garage to global platform
Wattpad grew into a major platform for amateur and aspiring writers to publish and share fiction, eventually launching its own publishing division. In January 2021, South Korean internet company Naver Corporation announced it would acquire Wattpad, with the deal completing that May — a Toronto-founded platform absorbed into one of Asia's largest internet companies.
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