We are pleased to announce the successful completion of our Series D Second Close funding round. With THIRD WAVE CORPORATION as the lead investor and additional fundraising courtesy of Sumisho Venture Partners, Inc., Yostar, Inc., REALITY, Inc., SEPTENI HOLDINGS CO.,LTD., and Shochiku Ventures, Inc., as well as the Shizuoka Bank, Ltd., the amount raised from the Series D round totals about 3.11 billion yen through the issuance of new shares to both existing and new investors, shares repurchase and a bank loan, bringing the cumulative amount to approximately 5.8 billion yen.

Fundraising Background & Goals

Brave group’s purpose is “Japanese Adventure. World Wide Romance”, with the mission to “Strike Wonder in 8 Billion Hearts”. With this purpose and mission in mind, Brave group has been working on IP businesses such as the next generation Virtual esports project “VSPO!” (*1) and the virtual music label “RIOT MUSIC” (*2), the platform business which operates “ME Campus (*3)” , a virtual school city, and the esports business, which produces the esports school “CR Gaming School(*4)”. We intend to work on further business fields such as XR business, DX business and incubation businesses.

This year, in order to accelerate the global expansion of our business, we established overseas corporations in four countries, held global auditions targeting the English-speaking, Chinese-speaking, and European markets, and launched several international projects, with a total of 20 VTubers from various countries debuting.

With this fundraising, we plan to further promote our global IP business, strengthen management integration and alliances in both Japan and overseas, and promote regional revitalization efforts in Japan.

*1) VSPO!: https://vspo.jp/en/
*2) RIOT MUSIC: https://riot-music.com/
*3) ME CAMPUS: https://mecampus.org/
*4) CR Gaming School: https://cr-gs.jp/

Investors

– THIRD WAVE CORPORATION
– Sumisho Venture Partners, Inc.
– Yostar, Inc.
– REALITY, Inc.
– SEPTENI HOLDINGS CO.,LTD.
– Shochiku Ventures, Inc.
– The Shizuoka Bank, Ltd.

Words from the investors

Kensuke Ozaki, President and CEO, THIRD WAVE CORPORATION

With Brave group’s funding, THIRD WAVE CORPORATION is very pleased to further expand the business areas of both companies. Our two companies have collaborated in the past on projects such as the next-generation virtual esports project “VSPO!” and other projects. We are confident that we will be able to provide new value to an even greater number of customers in all the businesses and services that both companies will be involved in in the future. We look forward to continuing to develop our business together with Brave group under the mission of “maximizing the potential of people’s creative activities”.

Hidehiro Yamaki, President and CEO, Sumisho Venture Partners, Inc.

I would like to express my gratitude for the opportunity to invest in Brave group and participate in its business.
I have long believed that the mission of a trading company is to support industries that can compete globally in the face of Japan’s declining international competitiveness.
That is why we are thrilled to be working with VTubers to create content that has the potential to become world-class!

Hengda Lee, President and CEO, Yostar, Inc.

The main reason behind this investment is the strong VTuber content and the potential “VSPO!” has. Yostar sees great value in supporting such creative content and promoting further growth.
We also have very high expectations for Brave group’s future business. They have already established a unique position in the market, and their talent and creativity have the potential to create even more innovation. At Yostar, we share Brave group’s vision and look forward to supporting them in reaching even more people with their business. We have high expectations for Brave group’s future growth and the new content they will create.

Eiji Araki, President and CEO, REALITY, Inc.

We have invested in Brave group since the company’s early days and have worked closely with them, and we are pleased to participate in this round again as an additional investor.
The VTuber market is expected to continue to grow at a high rate both domestically and internationally, and there is still much room for growth, especially in overseas markets.
We are looking forward to working with Brave group to further boost this global market!

Koki Sato, President, SEPTENI HOLDINGS CO.,LTD.

As a member of Brave friends, I am sincerely pleased to have this opportunity to make an additional investment as a shareholder.

Brave group is not confined by the boundaries of Japan, but rather, is hungry to venture out into the world with a diverse group of members and deliver to all mankind the ardent passion generated by the creativity of their creators.

I hope that through this financing, Brave group’s business value will increase and that it will make further progress.

Please strike wonder in 8 billion hearts in the near future, just as you did for us!

Takahiro Inoue, President and CEO, Shochiku Ventures, Inc.

We at Shochiku take pride in the fact that we have been dealing with entertainment for over 100 years. We have been repeatedly taking on challenges and weaving them into our culture. Because we know firsthand the difficulty and significance of such a challenge, we wanted to pursue the future of entertainment together with Brave group, a company that is moving forward with strong determination and execution.
We are very pleased to be able to walk forward with a strong partnership through this investment. We will do our utmost to support Brave group and hope to co-create and promote world-class content.

Kazuhiko Taki, Executive Director & General Manager of the Tokyo Sales Department, The Shizuoka Bank, Ltd.

We are very pleased to be able to support Brave group.
By owning attractive IP contents such as “VSPO!”, Brave group has established a unique positioning in the virtual IP market,gaining momentum by the day, and we look forward to its continuing growth as a market leader.
Shizuoka Bank is confident that Brave group’s business will generate enthusiasm among a large number of people, and that the company will be able to expand its business worldwide.
Shizuoka Bank will do its utmost to support Brave group’s further challenges.

Keito Noguchi, CEO, Brave group

We are very grateful and honored to have received investment and financing as a second close from seven wonderful companies through valuable relationships.
Thanks to the support of our shareholders, we have been able to manage our business without slowing down our offensive activities, such as overseas expansion of our business with a focus on global IP, strengthening of alliances, management integration, and recruiting activities.
We will continue to take on challenges so that Brave group can conduct “the business of expanding the potential of mankind from Japan,” which constantly creates new fields and develops people who can play an active role in them.

Recruitment

As of December 1, 2023, Brave group has 253 employees (a 222.4% increase from the previous year) and 15 companies. As we keep expanding our organization as we diversify our business and services, we are actively recruiting new talents.
Please refer to the page below for the currently open positions.
https://recruit.bravegroup.co.jp/recruit-information/