Bythen, an Indonesia-based platform that creates ownable digital characters for virtual creators, has announced it has raised $5 million in a seed round of financing led by Vector Inc. and Skystar Capital.

The firm said in a statement on Tuesday that the round also saw participation from East Ventures, BEENEXT, OSK, and AppWorks; as well as notable angel investors including William Tanuwijaya (Co-founder of Tokopedia), Ryan Lee (Co-founder of Pinkfong Company).

With this round of financing, Bythen is set to launch globally and aims to onboard 15,000 virtual influencers this year from diverse sectors, including Web3, gaming, and other popular verticals.

In the coming months, Bythen will roll out its first original IP collection as well as collaboration collections with well-known international IP owners.

“Bythen is all about amplifying creators’ potential. By providing an accessible platform and revenue-sharing model, we’re cultivating an environment where anyone can thrive as a virtual creator,” said Kevin Mintaraga, Co-founder of Bythen and former Chief Marketing Officer of Tokopedia.

Founded in 2024, Bythen enables users to produce creative content, livestream, and transform personalized characters into artificial intelligence (AI)-powered digital twins called “Bytes”—unlocking new ways to elevate online presence and monetize influence.

The platform democratizes access for everyone globally to become virtual influencers, leveraging AI-powered content generation to automate 24/7 engagement across various social media platforms.

It operates on a revenue-sharing model, channeling earnings to its creator community, creating an ecosystem that shares growth and success with its global community.

It empowers users to utilize their Byte as a unique social media representation, enabling autonomous content creation and video replies across multiple platforms to grow their influence and unlock monetization opportunities.

Users can also use their Byte for video calls on platforms like Zoom or Google Meet and engage in manual or autonomous live streaming on platforms like YouTube and Twitch.

With an AI-powered tool, users can create and download customized content featuring their Byte to enhance their influence and monetize their digital presence.

The founding team at Bythen have been co-founding and working together for the past 16 years, having built Magnivate (acquired by WPP in 2012) and Bridestory (acquired by Tokopedia in 2019), including long-time collaborators Kevin Mintaraga, Erick Saputra, Ferry Dianto, and Nathalia Isadora, who are joined by William Nagata—who leads business development following leadership roles at Shopee and a leading brand aggregator company in Indonesia.

The team set out to create Bythen based on their recognition of a massive market shift towards pseudonymous social media personas and foundational changes in values among younger users towards privacy, freedom of expression, and the desire to shape digital identities away from physical attributes.

These shifting preferences overlap with a rapidly evolving global creator economy worth $325 billion and home to over 200 million content creators, a space which Bythen seeks to
redefine.

“Vector Inc. is proud to support a visionary serial entrepreneur committed to empowering creators and driving innovation,

“Through our extensive expertise and global network, we are dedicated to assisting Bythen in acquiring high-value content and building strategic partnerships, both in Japan and across international markets,” said Ryo Umezawa, Vice President of Vector Inc.

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