Tag: Toonsutra Inc

  • Funimation Founder, Gen Fukunaga, Joins as Investor and Advisor to Toonsutra, India’s #1 Webtoon App

    Fukunaga, an Anime Industry Legend, Previously Built the World’s Leading Anime Platform Through Funimation Which Later Acquired Crunchyroll. The Global Webtoon Market is Expected to Grow to $60 Billion by 2030

    Toonsutra, India’s homegrown webtoon comic app, announced today that industry legend Gen Fukunaga has joined the Company as an investor and Advisory Board member.

    Toonsutra App
    Toonsutra App

    Fukunaga brings decades of experience in anime, pop culture and streaming platforms, having previously founded Funimation, which was sold to Sony Pictures Entertainment and acquired Crunchyroll to become the world’s leading anime digital platform and one of the most successful streaming platforms globally. Goldman Sachs last year estimated Crunchyroll will account for 36% of all profit in the Sony Pictures Entertainment segment, encompassing the conglomerate’s film and TV content businesses, by 2028.

    Toonsutra has quickly established itself as the #1 comic app in India in both the Apple and Android stores with over a million downloads of the app already. The Company is founded by veteran media entrepreneurs, Sharad Devarajan and Vishal Anand, who bring decades of Indian startup and media experience.

    The excitement for the global webtoon market continues to grow with the recent US$2.7 Billion IPO by Naver’s Webtoon Entertainment last month; the medium and fandom around these new storytelling comic platforms are finding new audiences and territories. The global webtoon market is projected to reach a staggering $60 billion by 2030, making it one of the highest-growing new categories for media and content.

    Commenting on Toonsutra, Fukunaga said, “The webtoon market is experiencing explosive growth globally, reminiscent of the anime boom we saw with Funimation. Toonsutra’s innovative approach to bringing world-class content to Indian audiences, combined with their deep understanding of local preferences, positions them perfectly to capitalize on this trend. I’m excited to bring my experience in building global fan communities to help Toonsutra become the definitive platform for digital comics and pop culture in India.”

    Vishal Anand, Toonsutra’s CEO, added, “Gen Fukunaga’s decision to join Toonsutra as an investor and advisor is a testament to the immense potential of the Indian digital content market. His unparalleled experience in scaling anime and manga platforms will be invaluable as we continue to expand our offerings and enhance our user experience. With Gen’s guidance, we’re not just aiming to be India’s top webtoon app – we’re building a comprehensive ecosystem for digital storytelling that will reshape how Indian youth consume and interact with content.”

    “Gen’s amazing experience in helping build one of the world’s most successful fandom platforms is invaluable to us as we pioneer the webtoon revolution for India. Toonsutra’s mission is to bring together a community of passionate fandom and pop culture, catering to the largest youth market in the world – India’s 700 million+ mobile youth market,” added, Sharad Devarajan, Co-Founder & Executive Chairman of Toonsutra.

    Toonsutra is the only premium webtoon comics app in the region dedicated to catering to Indian audiences with Hindi, Tamil and Telegu language content offerings. The Company has locked up exclusive partnership deals with some of the biggest global publishers and creators to bring over 550+ titles and 250,000 episodes of content into local Indian languages – the largest offering of premium, high-quality, webtoon comic content ever assembled for this market.

    Toonsutra is backed by a leading group of investors including the Sony Innovation FundMaiora CapitalKun Gao (Co-Founder, Crunchyroll); Jeremy Liew (partner, Lightspeed); Kevin Lin (Co-Founder, Twitch); Patrick Lee (Co-Founder, Rotten Tomatoes); Holly Lui (Co-Founder, Kabam); Benjamin Grubbs (Co-Founder, CreatorPlus); Steve Chung (fmr. CEO of Americas, CJENM); and others.

    Contact Information
    Ashish Badshaw
    Press Manager
    ashish@actimediaindia.com
    +91 98211 60231

    Related Images

    Toonsutra App
    Toonsutra App
    Gen Fukunaga
    Gen Fukunaga
    Vishal Anand, Toonsutra Co-Founder & CEO
    Vishal Anand, Toonsutra Co-Founder & CEO
    Sharad Devarajan, Toonsutra Co-Founder & Chairman
    Sharad Devarajan, Toonsutra Co-Founder & Chairman

    SOURCE: Toonsutra, Inc.

  • Toonsutra Becomes India’s #1 Webtoon App, Expanding Growth and Content With Some of the Biggest Publishers and Partners in the World

    As Naver’s ‘Webtoon Entertainment’ Launches a US$2.7 Billion IPO on Thursday, the Global Webtoon Market is Expected to Grow to $60 Billion by 2030

    Toonsutra, India’s homegrown webtoon comic app, announced today that in just a few months it has firmly established itself as the #1 comic app in India in app stores, a position it has maintained for over two months with over a million downloads of the app already.

    Toonsutra Screenshot
    Toonsutra Screenshot – Toonsutra screenshot from the app

    Toonsutra’s mission is to bring together a community of passionate fandom and pop-culture, catering to the largest youth market in the world – India’s 700 million+ mobile youth market. It is the only premium webtoon comics app in the region dedicated to catering to Indian audiences with Hindi, Tamil and Telegu language content offerings.

    The Company has already locked up partnership deals with some of the biggest global publishers and creators to bring over 550+ titles and 250,000 episodes of content into local Indian languages – the largest offering of premium, high-quality, webtoon comic content ever assembled for this market, in easy-to-read vertical scroll format optimized for mobile.

    As the excitement for the global webtoon market continues to grow with the US$2.7 Billion IPO yesterday by Naver’s Webtoon Entertainment, the medium and fandom around these new storytelling comic platforms is finding new audiences and territories. The global webtoon market is projected to reach a staggering $60 Billion by 2030, making it one of the highest growing new categories for media and content.

    Toonsutra is founded by veteran media entrepreneurs Sharad Devarajan, who is the Company’s Executive Chairman, and Vishal Anand, Toonsutra’s CEO.

    Devarajanis also the Founder/CEO of leading Indian character entertainment company, Graphic India and brings over 25 years of comic and fandom experience, having created over 200 episodes of animation and 300 comics. He created Spider-Man India with Marvel; created and produced the #1 hit show, Baahubali: Crown of Blood, with SS Rajamouli; created and produced The Legend of Hanuman series with Disney+Hotstar, which remains the #1 animated project in Indian history.

    Anandis a serial digital media entrepreneur and was formerly CPO of Dailyhunt, where he was part of the core initial team managing their product and tech teams to scale the business into one of India’s most successful media platforms (currently with over 300M users). Anand was also part of the product leadership team at Amazon Web Services.

    “Toonsutra is not just an app, it’s a fandom community and a pop-culture movement. We’re bridging the gap between global storytelling and local audiences, creating a new language of entertainment that resonates with India’s digital-first generation. Our rapid growth shows that Indian audiences are hungry for the highest-quality, premium webtoon comic stories made available in their languages and in easily snackable mobile short episodes,” commented Toonsutra Co-Founder & Chairman, Sharad Devarajan.

    “The initial success we are seeing for Toonsutra underscores a fundamental shift in content consumption patterns across the Indian youth. We’re not just riding the wave of digital transformation; we’re actively shaping it by combining cutting-edge technology with compelling storytelling. At Toonsutra we are creating an ecosystem where the biggest global creators and publishers can thrive by reaching entirely new regional language audiences, and Indian readers can discover new worlds with every scroll. Our mission goes beyond entertainment – we’re fostering a new era of creativity, community and creative expression in India,” added Toonsutra Co-Founder & CEO, Vishal Anand.

    Toonsutra has become a trusted source by global partners for bring their top content to Indian audiences with the highest quality webtoon formatting and translation, ensuring that Indian languages audiences can experience the very best of the world’s comic storytelling. International partnerships include Valiant Comics, Webtoon Factory, Kenaz, Archie Comics, Boom! Studios, Top Cow Productions, Liquid Comics, and numerous others.

    In addition to award winning and bestselling comics from global creators, Toonsutra also has exclusive webtoon comics available based on some of the biggest Indian franchises, including the film sensation, Baahubali; and the hit streaming series, The Legend of Hanuman, and hundreds of Indian episodes from leading Indian comic publisher Graphic India.

    Toonsutra is also backed by a leading group of investors including the Sony Innovation Fund; Maiora CapitalKun Gao (Co-Founder, Crunchyroll); Jeremy Liew (partner, Lightspeed); Kevin Lin (Co-Founder, Twitch); Patrick Lee (Co-Founder, Rotten Tomatoes); Holly Lui (Co-Founder, Kabam); Benjamin Grubbs (Co-Founder, CreatorPlus); Steve Chung (fmr. CEO of Americas, CJENM); and others.

    Contact Information:
    Ashish Badshaw
    Press Manager
    ashish@actimediaindia.com
    +91 98211 60231

    Related Images

    Toonsutra Screenshot
    Toonsutra Screenshot – Toonsutra screenshot from the app
    Toonsutra Logo
    Toonsutra Logo

    SOURCE: Toonsutra, Inc.