VoyceMe, a first-of-its-kind manga and webtoon creator platform, announced new funding, product, technology pipeline details, and the addition of key executive leadership. And with over eight million monthly visits and an increase in readership of 1,000% since 2023, VoyceMe has secured new seed investments bringing the total capital to $10 million. Redpoint Ventures led the latest round, which included existing investors Torch Capital, Red Sea Ventures, and Clara Vista Partners.
The funding allows VoyceMe to expand its platform offering and continue to develop its content and proprietary technology.
Manga and webtoons are rapidly emerging as a dominant force in global entertainment. Leveraging ethical AI, VoyceMe enables creators to monetize their content and foster deeper connections with fans through robust social features. And the animanga industry (including anime, manga, and webtoons) is a behemoth, currently valued at over $47 billion.
With projected growth to over double within the next five years, the category is undeniably penetrating mainstream culture. And Netflix’s most-watched show in the second half of 2023, One Piece, is a live action adaptation of a manga. Even professional sports teams and athletes are participating in anime culture as the LA Chargers released their NFL schedule as an anime trailer.
VoyceMe has also appointed Dexter Ong as Vice President, Head of Development, and Head of Strategic Initiatives. Ong previously worked at Wattpad, a webnovel publishing platform acquired for $600M in 2021, and WEBTOON (the largest global webcomic platform) – which recently filed to go public and generated $1.3 billion in revenue in 2023 with 170M monthly active users. Plus, VoyceMe has appointed Rob Pereyda, as their fractional Head of Anime. Pereyda is the former Head of Anime at Netflix and Vice President of Business Development at Viz Media, the largest manga publisher in North America.
VoyceMe’s centralized platform also introduces a new kind of ecosystem for manga lovers around the world. And the comprehensive and intuitive experience enables users to seamlessly find and consume manga, stream anime, connect with an engaged community of authors and artists they love, purchase merchandise, and even become a creator themselves. Currently in beta and set to reach general availability next year, VoyceMe’s story-driven technology powered by ethical AI will create more publishing opportunities for first-time creators, experienced artists, and IP looking to enter the anime world. Any user will be able to quickly and easily develop and distribute their own manga and webtoon. Plus, VoyceMe’s technology is all built from creators with creators in mind. VoyceMe’s story-driven technology helps reduce creator burnout, fight against image scraping, and increase content revenue opportunities.
VoyceMe is the largest studio creating English-original manga and webtoons in North America. Due to its capabilities and strategic partnerships, it is also building one of the largest original anime IP libraries globally, launching hundreds of series every month.
VoyceMe also recently entered into a strategic partnership with Heavy Metal Comics and has acquired the rights to the new prequel for the Night of the Living Dead for manga plus anime, multiple top Japanese and South Korean manga/webtoon platforms for content licensing, and has partnered with Zokio to scale VoyceMe’s democratization vision.
KEY QUOTES:
“VoyceMe is at an exciting tipping point. Thanks to the confidence from our investment partners, we’re able to fully realize our all-in-one platform experience and content strategy, which looks to turn readers into creators by democratizing manga and webtoons. Through specialized technology we’ve developed, we’re streamlining the creation process, enabling millions of fans to easily create and share their own artwork.”
- VoyceMe CEO and Founder Dylan Telano
“We’re excited to help usher in this next chapter of growth for VoyceMe as it looks to own one of the fastest growing categories of entertainment, globally. As we envision a future where AI transforms every corner of entertainment, we believe that VoyceMe is uniquely positioned to own the market for manga and anime with its proprietary library of training data, responsible generative tooling platform, and engaged user base that together create a compelling flywheel for both creators and fans alike.”
- Meera Clark of Redpoint Ventures
“Dylan and his team consistently produce outstanding originals, while VoyceMe’s platform champions creators and continues to propel this cultural wave forward.”
- Scott Birnbaum of Red Sea Ventures
“We have never seen a platform scale content and engage a fanatical fanbase as well as VoyceMe has. VoyceMe’s explosive growth is testament to both the quality of their tech and the depth of demand from millions of readers around the world.”
- Chris Harper of Torch Capital
