Participated · Equity · Jun 2024

Mantra develops manga-focused AI translation technology and offers Mantra Engine, a cloud translation tool for manga and vertical-scroll comics that completes all manga-translation work in the browser. The company says Mantra Engine uses integrated image-recognition and LLM-based translation to preserve character voice and contextual consistency, cutting traditional translation workflows to less than half the time. Mantra reports monthly usage of about 100,000 pages (roughly 500 tankōbon volumes) by domestic and international publishers, translation houses, and distributors. The team has published in top AI venues (AAAI) and received awards such as the AAMT Nagao Prize, reflecting academic validation of its approach. Mantra also operates the Langaku English extensive-reading app and plans to commercialize its technology into novels, games, and video content. The company intends to use new funding to accelerate R&D and improve translation accuracy toward a five-year goal of consumer-grade reading quality, while advancing global expansion.

Led · Series A · May 2024

Orange, Inc. is an entertainment technology startup focused on the manga industry that develops localization technologies and works closely with several publishers. The company is building a localization product based on deep learning models and plans to launch a digital manga store called “emaqi” in the US in summer 2024. Orange says its proprietary localization operation process enables Japanese-to-English localization capacity of up to 500 manga volumes per month. The company intends to expand localization into other languages to enable worldwide simultaneous distribution of manga. Funds from the recent financing will be used to develop the localization product and to support the emaqi launch. Orange is led by founder and CEO Shoko Ugaki.