Tokyo-based Brave group, a Japanese VTuber studio and working on other intellectual property (IP)-related businesses, announced on Wednesday that it has secured 1.99 billion yen (about $13.7 million) in the 1st close of its series D round. This was led by Simplex Capital Investment with participation from Tokyo University of Science Innovation Capital, Money Forward Venture Partners (HIRAC FUND), Revamp, and Adways Ventures.

The latest round brought the company’s funding sum up to date to 5.03 billion yen ($34.5 million). Some of our readers may recall that the company secured 300 million (about $2 million) from Animoca Brands Japan back in January.

Brave group was founded in 2017 by Japanese serial entrepreneur Keito Noguchi. The company produces and operates VTuber groups, including the virtual music label BlitzWing, and has developed IP-related businesses, a platform business using the Brave Engine metaverse engine in addition to pioneering emerging areas such as e-sports and Web3. The company established a US subsidiary in June to launch V4Mirai, a VTuber project focused on English-speaking markets.

Brave group acquired Virtual Entertainment and MateReal in June. Virtual Entertainment operates manages Buisseppo! e-sports-focused VTuber group while MateReal manages the Palette Project female virtual idol group. In July, the company acquired Geek Hive which offers digital transformation support for enterprises. The company will use the funds to strengthen overseas expansion and more aggressively merge and acquire other companies to further diversify revenue stream.

via PR Times    Summarized by ChatGPT

Tokyo-based Brave group, a Japanese VTuber studio, announced that it has founded a US subsidiary to begin full-scale global operations. Their first initiative is V4Mirai, a VTuber production project focused on English-speaking markets, in which two VTubers (Abi Kadabura and Serina Maiko) will debut on June 11. Brave group US plans to use this as a springboard to expand their VTuber business globally.

The company was founded in 2017 by Japanese serial entrepreneur Keito Noguchi. The company runs the BlitzWing virtual music label and the V-Spo next-gen virtual eSports project in addition to producing other VTuber groups, IP businesses, platform business utilizing their own Brave metaverse engine, and the development of emerging areas such as eSports and Web3.

In January of 2023, Brave group raised 300 million yen (about $2.2 million) from the Japanese subsidiary of Animoca Brands, which brought their funding sum up to date to 3.04 billion yen ($21.9 million).

via PR Times    Summarized by ChatGPT