36Kr Exclusive | "YouShi Animation" Secures Tens of Millions in Angel Round Funding, Leveraging AI to Take Comic Dramas Overseas
Text by Wang Yuchan
36Kr has learned that the AI animation technology company, "YOOUSI," has completed an angel round of financing worth tens of millions of RMB. This round was jointly invested by Yunqi Capital and BAce Capital, with Yuewei Capital serving as the exclusive financial advisor.
The financing will mainly be used to build a top - notch team, upgrade core technologies, and comprehensively promote the layout in overseas markets. Meanwhile, the company is promoting a new round of financing to accelerate international expansion and build a global animation technology ecosystem.
How long does it take for a comic you like to be adapted into an animation?
In Japan, where the animation industry is highly mature, it usually takes 1 to 2 years for a comic to be adapted into an animation after its release. First, the comic needs to gain positive reviews from readers and show market potential. Then, it has to wait for investors or animation companies to get involved, plan the project, and negotiate with the magazine that owns the comic's copyright. After the cooperation is confirmed, investors, publishers, animation companies, advertisers, etc. will jointly establish a production committee to start the animation production.
One to two years is a rather long time. In the current era when short - video platforms bring new thrills every day, the enthusiasm of fans will be quickly fragmented and diluted. If the adaptation cycle can be shortened and the production capacity increased, the entire industry will naturally receive a significant boost.
A company named "YOOUSI" is using AI tools to shorten the animation adaptation cycle to 1 - 2 months. This Chinese company was founded in 2017 and is a new - type AI animation technology company that integrates "AI creation tools, global distribution, and original animation content." They use self - developed AI tools and real - person voice - overs to make comics "come alive" as video content of 1 - 3 minutes per episode. This type of video, different from traditional animations, is called "comic dramas."
Photo provided by YOOUSI
Yuan Ze, the CEO of YOOUSI, introduced that YOOUSI started creating original comic content in 2017 and accumulated a batch of self - owned comic IPs and externally purchased IPs. In 2018, YOOUSI began to develop AI tools, trying to drive content with technology, and built a mature system around 2023.
As of now, YOOUSI has launched nearly a hundred works in total. With the iterative upgrade of AI tools, the quality of the works has also been greatly improved. Recent works are approaching the level of traditional animation production in terms of scene switching, character movement coherence, and storyboard performance, but the cost has more advantages.
A 36Kr author watched both recent and early works of YOOUSI and found a significant improvement in content quality. The early works were more like "motion animations." Although the mouth shapes, expressions, and movements of the characters changed according to the plot, the background was rather rigid and there were few storyboards, similar to the "PPT animations" in the early days of Japan. However, the recent works are almost on par with traditionally produced animations in terms of scene changes, character movement coherence, and the richness of storyboards.
Photo provided by YOOUSI
The technological upgrade not only brings an improvement in content quality but also keeps the overall production cost efficient. Yuan Ze pointed out that after covering the costs of IP procurement, production, and voice - overs, YOOUSI's content cost is still far lower than the traditional industry standard.
Yuan Ze said that the company has verified good commercial returns in content production. Many of the launched comic dramas have achieved profitability, and some of the works have even performed far beyond expectations in the market, showing an obvious amplification effect.
In terms of business models, YOOUSI initially used long - video platforms as the main distribution channels and then gradually expanded to short - video and emerging traffic platforms. This year, through in - depth cooperation with ByteDance and the Douyin platform, the company successfully created the industry's first batch of representative works with long life cycles and large - scale revenues, further proving the commercial potential of "AI + comic dramas" in multi - channel distribution. For example, the work "Forced to Be the Villain's Son - in - Law" became the industry's first comic drama with a promotion cost exceeding one million. Its life cycle exceeded 5 months, verifying the commercial potential of comic dramas on both long - video and short - video platforms for the industry and bringing considerable revenue sharing and traffic returns to the company.
Photo provided by YOOUSI
However, the domestic market is not YOOUSI's most important market. Considering that the general promotion cost in the domestic market is higher while the user ARPU value is lower, YOOUSI currently mainly targets the comic drama consumer market in Japan. "The ARPPU value of Japanese animation platforms can reach about 200 RMB, while in China it's only a dozen or so." Yuan Ze said.
YOOUSI is accelerating its internationalization strategy. Japan, as the first key overseas market, is a highly mature and competitive market with extremely high requirements for work quality, narrative rhythm, and audience experience, and has a very high entry threshold.
To verify the comic drama model, the company spent two years conducting multiple rounds of trials and iterative tests to optimize content, production processes, and distribution strategies.
Yuan Ze said that the company has verified the acceptance of comic dramas in the core animation consumer market. The test results show that the performance of its works is approaching that of the top live - action dramas on the platform. At the same time, it has explored the single - episode payment model in the business model, aligning with the price system of Japan's mature comic industry. This not only proves the commercial potential of comic dramas but also shows the possibility of their growth into a new content form.
To support this strategy, YOOUSI has built three major systems:
Content creation and production system: The company has formed a mechanism for rapid development and batch production capacity, which can significantly improve efficiency while ensuring quality;
AI - driven animation creation tool system: The self - developed Inkverse toolchain has realized the intelligentization of the drawing and production processes and improved efficiency while reducing costs, enabling continuous content upgrades within a controllable cost range;
Content overseas distribution and multilingual release system: By setting up offices in Changsha, Hangzhou, Tokyo, and Bangkok, the company has built a distribution network covering core markets and has the ability to launch content simultaneously in multiple languages and distribute it globally.
Currently, YOOUSI's team is basically in place, with the three core teams of technology, content, and distribution operating in coordination. This year, the company will further expand the team size to meet the needs of overseas market expansion and platform construction.
In the future, YOOUSI will build its own comic drama platform in Japan, deeply enter this most important global animation consumer market, and promote a comprehensive upgrade from "content going overseas" to "brand globalization."
In December 2024, the latest "Animation Industry Report 2024" released by the Association of Japanese Animations (AJA) showed that among the TV animations launched in 2023, there were 232 new works and 68 sequels, the lowest number of works in the past decade. On the other hand, in recent years, the average number of episodes per work has decreased. Meanwhile, the market scale of the Japanese comic industry has been expanding for many years, and there are a large number of IPs that have not been adapted into animations.
Photo source: "Animation Industry Report 2024"
Yuan Ze said that in the current industry context, the application of AI tools can effectively help the animation industry stabilize content quality, relieve the pressure on talent, and improve efficiency. "Compared with the domestic market, the overseas market has the following characteristics: the domestic market focuses more on traffic acquisition and quick returns, while overseas users pay more attention to content quality. As long as the works are excellent enough, users are willing to pay and stay for a long time." Yuan Ze said.
Therefore, YOOUSI hopes to continuously expand overseas markets with a long - term business approach, establish a stable content ecosystem, and develop a sustainable business model.
YOOUSI has established a strategic partnership with SB Creative, a subsidiary of SoftBank in Japan. It has also formed a joint - venture company with Thailand's T&B Global Media Group and established a strategic cooperation relationship with Xingyue Culture (a company in the Yuewen ecosystem). In the future, these companies will cooperate in multiple fields such as IP development, content production, and overseas distribution to jointly promote the development and spread of short animation dramas in the global market.