Amazon and Superplastic have announced a new collaboration which includes a $20 million series A extension investment round for Superplastic and a first-look deal with Amazon Studios.
Details:
- As part of the first-look deal, Amazon Studios is developing an animated comedy series titled The Janky & Guggimon Show, featuring the two popular Superplastic characters.
- Show synopsis: The Janky & Guggimon Show follows the adventures of two lazy and spectacularly incompetent best friends who are hell-bent on getting rich and famous but leave a trail of chaos and destruction in their wake. The endearing duo includes Janky, the loveable idiot who spends his spare time scamming celebrities, and Guggimon, a fashion icon and master manipulator who’s too narcissistic to care.
- Superplastic refers to the characters as “synthetic celebrities” and has managed to turn Janky and Guggimon into bona fide social media influencers. Janky has 1 million Instagram followers and Guggimon has 1.5 million.
- Amazon’s Alexa Fund, a venture capital group focused on digital technology, led the $20 million Series A fundraising campaign for Superplastic. Investors include Craft Ventures, Google Ventures, Galaxy Digital, Kering, Sony Japan, Scribble Ventures, Kakao, Animoca Brands, Day One Ventures, and Betaworks.
- Said Paul Bernard, director of Amazon’s Alexa Fund: “As we expand the Alexa Fund to address a wider range of consumer technologies that include ambient computing, smart devices, and the future of entertainment, we’re very excited to add Superplastic to our portfolio. Superplastic’s virtual celebrities delight audiences and meet their customers where they are, and we see them as demonstrative of a new class of IP that is going to be increasingly relevant with younger generations.”
