Amazon funds Web3-friendly Studio Superplastic in a $20 million round

Amazon’s Alexa Fund, the tech giant’s venture capital arm, has led a $20 million Series A-4 funding round for 3D character studio Superplastic, which creates “synthetic celebrities,” vinyl toys, and previously released NFT collections on Ethereum and the collaboration with major brands such as Gucci and Epic Games’ Fortnite.

Google Ventures, Galaxy Digital, Sony Japan, Animoca Brands, Craft Ventures and others also participated in the round, bringing Superplastic’s total funding to $58 million to date.

As part of the arrangement, Amazon Studios will get a “first-look deal” with Superplastic, which is Hollywood-speak for first dibs on any TV show or movie pitch that features Superplastic’s characters. “The Janky & Guggimon Show,” starring two virtual Superplastic celebrities, is now in development at Amazon Studios, which has produced other edgy, quirky comedies like “The Boys” and “Fleabag.”

“Janky & Guggimon” will follow the two titular characters – a cat and a rabbit with fangs respectively – as they pursue fame and fortune at any cost. Superplastic blurs the line between fiction and reality with their characters, who are both Janky and Guggimon (and all the company’s characters) have millions of followers on social media and are anthropomorphized animals that happen to be able to defy the laws of physics.

According to a statement, the two characters are “lazy and spectacularly incompetent best friends”, describing Janky as a “lovable idiot who spends his spare time conning celebrities” and Guggimon as a “fashion icon and master manipulator too narcissistic to care”.

In a statement, Janky explained why he is excited about Amazon’s investment.

“We went young [sic] tear Amazon boxes off porches, to get Amazon bags, baby,” he said.

Paul Bernard, director of Amazon’s Alexa Fund, said in a statement that the fact that Superplastic’s characters “meet their customers where they are” (on social media and in video games like “Fortnite”) is a big part of its appeal.

“We see them as a new class of IP that is going to be increasingly relevant to younger generations,” Bernard said of Superplastic’s characters.

When asked about Amazon’s stance on Web3, Bernard said Decrypt by email that the fund continues to expand its reach.

“This includes technologies such as synthetic and virtualization to generative AI and Web3and more,” he said.

“Amazon wants to invest strategically in these areas alongside our continued investment in startups that advance voice use cases, as it is part of the company’s core values ​​to look ahead to long-term investments that will position us well, even if it takes some time for these technologies to come to fruition in our daily lives,” Bernard added.

So far, Superplastic has made over 25,000 NFTs across a number of collections, including a PFP collection ($3.2 million in total turnover) and an NFT collaboration with Gucci (over 10 million dollars in total volume). Their NFT collection Cryptojankyzlaunched back in July 2021, has seen nearly $15.2 million in total traded volume.