(Yicai Global) July 17 -- Most of the capital Shanghai Hanjue Network Technology Co. raised in the first half, which amounted to almost USD14.7 million (CNY100 million), will be used to fund overseas expansion, People.cn quoted Sun Yumiao, founder and chief executive of the Chinese comics company, as saying at the firm's 2017 strategy conference on July 14 in Shanghai.

Maimentjun.com, the website the company operates, has reportedly exported 16 of its popular comics to Japan, and will open a branch office in South Korea in the second half of the year. The second S Award International Comics Competition started in China, Japan and South Korea on the day of the conference. Through the contest, the company hoped to discover promising artists and support uprising ones to promote the development of Chinese comics.

The overseas comics market has changed a lot, Sun said. Last year, magazine and book publishing in Japan was in distress, a Japan Research Institute of Publishing Science survey showed. The decline was mainly caused by the popularization of smartphones and e-books.

It is a good time for Chinese platforms to enter Japan as there are very few online comics platforms in the country and they offer less content than their Chinese counterparts. Given the Japanese comics market's importance to the world, success in Japan could pave the way for wider international development.