Webtoon Comic App Toonsutra Bags $3.2 Mn From Google, Others

SUMMARY

The seed round was led by Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, along with participation from GMJP, T-Accelerate Capital and Graphic India

Toonsutra’s funding comes six months after it roped in Funimation’s founder Gen Fukunaga as its investor and advisory board member

The development comes on the heels of a slugging funding sentiment seen in the media and entertainment sector in the last two years

Webtoon app TOONSUTRA

has raised $3.2 Mn (around INR 27.8 Cr) in a seed funding round led by Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, along with participation from Google, GMJP, T-Accelerate Capital and Graphic India.

Toonsutra’s funding comes six months after it roped in Funimation’s founder Gen Fukunaga as its investor and advisory board member.

Founded in 2022 by Sharad Devarajan and Vishal Anand, Toonsutra is a webcomics application which provides users access to global comics and short stories in their preferred language. These comics can be read on mobile devices and the application is available on Android, IOS and web. The startup provides content in regional languages such as Hindi, Tamil and Telegu.

“I have long admired Holtzbrinck’s and Google’s entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to creators across various media formats. We are honored to have them and this amazing group of investors as we continue to build on our mission to shape India’s webtoon and comic fandom,” said Anand.

The company claims to have over 2 Mn downloads till date and collaborates with global publishers to offer more than 3100 titles and 500,000 episodes to its audience.

“Toonsutra’s impressive growth and leadership position in India’s mobile comic space demonstrates the team’s deep understanding of both content and technology,” Filmon Zerai, COO of Holtzbrinck Publishing Group said.

Another regional storytelling platform Pratilipi recently raised INR 10.11 Cr in a bridge funding round, which was a mix of equity and debt, from Alteria Capital. Out of the total amount, INR 5 Cr was raised in debt and the rest was equity funding.

As per Inc42’s annual funding report, the media and entertainment segment bagged $289 Mn with a deal count of 43 last year. While in 2023, the sector saw $285 Mn of total funding with just 44 deals.

The total funding in this sector has seen a significant drop from 2022 when it bagged $2.2 Bn of total funding with a total deal count of 87.