The anime industry just got a major new deal-making hub. Kun Gao’s Nakama has secured a US$6 million investment for AniBiz, its dedicated anime licensing marketplace, from TBS Group, Toei Animation and TV Tokyo Holdings — three of Japan’s biggest anime licensors. The platform now hosts more than 30 licensors, and the backing signals serious industry confidence in its model.
AniBiz (Credits: AniBiz)
What Is AniBiz and Why Does the Anime Industry Need It?
Nakama launched AniBiz on July 2, billing it as the first dedicated business-to-business marketplace built specifically for the global anime industry. The platform connects anime IP rights holders — studios, production committees and rights management companies — with qualified licensees such as consumer brands, manufacturers, distributors, retailers, game studios and creators looking to license anime content and characters.
Its database already covers thousands of anime series, and the company says the platform makes discovery, matchmaking and warm introductions faster and more transparent than traditional cold outreach or fragmented industry networks. For an industry where deals have long depended on personal connections, that is a meaningful shift.
Who Is Already on the AniBiz Platform?
The roster of featured licensors reads like a who’s who of Japanese entertainment. Alongside TBS, Toei Animation and TV Tokyo, the platform lists Aniplex, Avex Pictures, Pony Canyon, TOHO Global, Warner Bros. Japan, TV Asahi, MBS, Dentsu, CyberAgent, DMM.com, FuRyu Pictures, GENCO and many more.
Gao, Nakama’s co-founder and president, told Anime News Network that AniBiz expected to keep adding licensors in the months after launch. The platform runs on tiered access for licensees: a free basic tier lets companies create a profile licensors can search, while a pro tier at US$49 per month unlocks the data feed of titles, production committees and more. A third bespoke tier serves companies with special requests.
AniBiz Aims to Open Anime Licensing to the World
Nakama says the platform aims to foster new collaborations by lowering the barrier to entry for anyone around the world interested in working with anime IP, in both established and developing international markets. Gao put it bluntly to Variety: for decades, access to anime IP has largely depended on who you know. AniBiz, he said, opens the door to entirely new categories of partners, from emerging brands and manufacturers to creators, events and startups.
He added that the complicated nature of anime licensing makes it hard for new licensees to break into the business — and equally hard for licensors to find and guide new partners. The platform is built to streamline that process and bring new players into what Gao calls the anime economy. He believes there is a world out there with ten or even a hundred times more potential licensees than the existing industry already has.
Other leaders behind the venture include Nakama co-founder and CEO Brady McCollum and co-founder Sae Whan Song, who previously worked at Toei Animation, Crunchyroll and Viz Media. With three major licensors now invested directly, AniBiz looks set to become a central meeting point for the global anime business.
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Source: Anime News Network — read the full story there.
