Emily Yang, known to the NFT space as Pplpleasr, has recently announced that her Web3 content creation studio Shibuya has raised $6.9 million USD for further development.

Co-leading the funding round was a16z and Variant Fund, as well as angel investments from Kevin Durant, Paris Hilton, and more.

there may or may not be some news in this video pic.twitter.com/PKMhO7YMGo

— pplpleasr (@pplpleasr1) December 8, 2022

Shibuya

Created to push the boundaries of how content is funded and developed through Web3 tech, Shibuya acts as both a content studio and a creator platform.

Its name is derived from the famous Shibuya crossing in Tokyo, which the studio says is “a place where cultures and ideas meet.”

“When we launched Shibuya in March, it was an experiment to see if we could change the way content is funded and produced using the wonderful technology of Web3,” wrote Yang, adding “Shibuya is the culmination of everything I’ve learned in my career thus far, from crowdfunding to monetizing engagement to empowering creators.”

Built with decentralization as a priority, the platform uses blockchain tech to safely distribute and monetize its hosted content.

Its primary goal is to build out tools and resources that creators can use to produce various forms of high-quality content, as well as provide them with direct access to their audiences.

Shibuya says it is on a mission to change how content is created, owned, and consumed.

Chapter 3

Since Yang’s first “experiment,” Shibuya has raised over $1.5 million USD through NFT sales and has continued to develop a high-quality animated short by the name of White Rabbit.

In the process, the studio has garnered an equally high-quality community, with loyal fans from around the world engaging and supporting its growth.

As for the recent funding round, Yang shared that the funds will be used for to “onboard new IPs and creators to Shibuya, scale the engineering team, and hire a lead UI/UX designer amongst other roles as we scale and grow the platform.

In a recent tweet, the studio shared that Chapter 3 of White Rabbit will be geared toward rewarding its producer pass holders and that those holding both producer passes one and two will be eligible to claim the third for free by staking the existing passes.

Shibuya’s previous passes act as governance tokens, with staking allowing holders to vote on various creative decisions as White Rabbit progresses.

Chapter 3 is about rewarding our producers! Producers that hold Chapter 1 + 2 can claim a free Chapter 3 pass by staking their Chapter 1 and 2 pass. Remember, staking your pass gives you the ability to vote on creative decisions like how White Rabbit will progress etc. pic.twitter.com/qPrdfvGxtl

— Shibuya (@shibuyaxyz) December 1, 2022

Newcomers interested in joining the ecosystem are welcome to wait and purchase the chapter three pass through the studio’s January 10 public sale or through acquiring past passes through secondary markets.

For creatives looking to get even more involved with Shibuya, the studio welcomes the exploration of its career page, as it will be looking to add on a variety of staff members thanks to its recent funding.

In other news, HTMKER is set to release original music for Web3 with world-class producers and an anime twist.