Keito Noguchi and Tomokuni Tsuji
Brave group is proud to announce that a strategic business alliance agreement has been signed with Sanrio Company, Ltd., providing Brave group with investment from Sanrio. This partnership aims to promote the global expansion of both companies’ IPs and facilitate growth in virtual businesses.
Background
By joining forces, Sanrio — expanding entertainment globally while exploring new ventures such as metaverse and user-generated content platforms — and Brave group — expanding its VTuber businesses both in Japan and internationally by establishing local subsidiaries and studios worldwide — aim to promote the cultural reach of Japanese IPs and explore new opportunities in virtual markets around the world. This collaboration aims to bring to life both Sanrio’s vision of “One World, Connecting Smiles” and Brave group’s purpose of “Japanese Adventure. World Wide Romance”.
Key Points
Collaborations with Sanrio’s digital platform services, including Charaforio, the fan creation platform, which connects official IP holders with fans, and the SANRIO Virtual Festival virtual event
Collaborating with Brave group’s Japanese and international VTubers to expand reach and content diversity.
Joint projects centered around content production, and creating revenues streams by leveraging the combined IPs of both companies.
Words from the representatives
Tomokuni Tsuji, CEO, Sanrio
At Sanrio, we are committed to becoming a truly global entertainment company and are actively pursuing various initiatives to achieve this goal. Recognizing the potential of the rapidly growing digital sector to embody our corporate philosophy of “Getting Along Together” into the future, we plan to expand our efforts in this area. We have identified the metaverses and VTuber businesses as key focus areas for Sanrio’s digital endeavors. Therefore, we are excited to embark on this new adventure with Brave group, who already has a solid presence in VTubing around the world. We believe that this partnership will lead to new avenues for collaborations in the digital space with other companies. By developing digital services that offer new value to creators and fans both in Japan and internationally, Sanrio will continue to spread smiles around the world.
Keito Noguchi, CEO, Brave group
At Brave group, we abide by our vision of “A Symphony of Innovations, Pioneering a Brighter Tomorrow by engaging in various business ventures both in Japan and internationally, focusing primarily on our IPs and adjacent emerging business domains. Between 2023 and 2024, we have established overseas operations in four countries across five locations, incorporated five companies, and launched two new subsidiaries.
As of September 6, 2024, our VTuber business is managing about 160 talents across 17 projects, active both in Japan and abroad.
By forming this strategic alliance with Sanrio, a global leader with iconic Japanese IPs, we are confident that we can further enhance the value of not only our own IP but also the value of Japanese IPs on a global scale. We are committed to developing this initiative in order to create and deliver entertainment that will captivate our fans and people around the world.
About Sanrio
Minna Nakayoku — The meaning of this phrase is “Getting Along Together” in English. Minna means “all of us”, and Nakayoku means “friendship”.
Inspired by their vision of “One World, Connecting Smiles”, Sanrio aims to achieve their corporate philosophy of “Minna Nakayoku (Getting Along Together)”, by creating smiles one person at a time and spreading the circle of happiness even further afield.
