Pitch Deck Raises $6M for Blockchain-Based Story Platform
- StoryCo founders Justin and JP Alanis are part of a wave of entrepreneurs building blockchain-based storytelling platforms.
- Their first major production is “The Disco Ball”, an immersive story that allows NFT holders to participate.
- StoryCo raised a $6 million seed round from Web3-focused VC firms and Hollywood insiders.
StoryCo, which recently changed its name from Story DAO, announced Thursday that it has raised $6 million in a seed funding round led by VCs Collab + Currency and Patron.
The founders, brothers Justin and JP Alanis, are part of a new wave of storytellers and media entrepreneurs using blockchain-based platforms to connect creatives with consumers outside of the traditional Hollywood ecosystem – and allow audiences to collaborate on stories. The Alanis are no strangers to the entertainment industry: JP previously worked in television development for Lionsgate and as creative director for media company Whalerock Industries.
The company’s mission is both lofty and seemingly straightforward. “We are changing the way IP is created and owned from a top-down, centralized and closed sandbox to a bottom-up, decentralized and open source,” says StoryCo’s investor deck.
In other words, the Hollywood studios have been gatekeepers to content – and profits – for far too long. StoryCo is one of several startups that see blockchain and Web3 technology creating great new opportunities for TV and film creatives.
“When we’ve talked to these studios, CEOs of these studios, they understand that,” Justin Alanis told Insider. “They understand what’s going on. Whether they’ve developed a thesis around the space and actually started to really think about how their business can adopt it is a more difficult conversation. It’s more difficult, I think, to think through it tactically, because they have legacy revenue, they have legacy systems, they have legacy partnerships.”
Some Hollywood bigwigs and stars join Web3 storytelling: Former MGM co-CEO and Spyglass Entertainment co-founder Roger Birnbaum last year launched a new studio with AOL scion Mark Kimsey that offers NFTs in exchange for creative control over productions. And Mila Kunis invested in the NFT animated series “The Gimmicks”.
StoryCo’s first major production is “The Disco Ball,” billed as a “first-of-its-kind interactive narrative that unfolds across the StoryCo website, social media and real-world interactions” that allows NFT (or “StoryPass”)- holders participate in the direction of history. The brothers brought in veteran TV creator Kyle Killen — the original showrunner on Paramount+’s “Halo” series — to develop the story. The artistic brother duo Shelby and Sandy are behind the digital art for the project.
A StoryPass is free, as the company is not making money yet. But Justin Alanis said he believes “the IP and the network we’re building will be incredibly valuable in the long run, and NFTs are one of many ways we can monetize those assets.”
Passholders will have access to a project’s treasury, which will include NFT sales, IP licensing revenue and royalties. Half of all net income from projects will then be shared between the treasury members after the story writers and creators have been compensated.
The site eschews most Web3 jargon. An NFT is referred to as a StoryPass, and there is no mention of blockchain or crypto wallets.
Patron general partner and co-founder Jason Yeh told Insider of his confidence in Alanises. “We felt like that was the right kind of team to think about: what are new kinds of experiences, and how can you actually build for these interesting communities in a way that allows them to create a viable IP, viable story?” (Patron began investing in StoryCo in 2022.)
Yeh sees NFTs as “a new way of organizing people and motivating people to do interesting things.”
“Hollywood in general — there’s so much creative talent across all these different mediums, but it feels like a lot of the value still just goes to a very small group of centralized studios and media companies,” Yeh added. “This can hopefully be a way to allow creative talent to participate in a wider range of projects – and also, if some of those projects hit or resonate with communities, actually have more upside associated with it.”
Blockchain-based storytelling platforms are betting that traditional TV and film creatives will appreciate having a more direct path to profit and to fandom.
“That’s what Web3 really unlocks: the ability to create an audience around your IP, to be able to incubate the IP in a scalable way on your own or in a very cost-effective way, build communities around it, and then sell it into the traditional landscape where you have a shot because there’s existing IP,” JP Alanis said.
Other participants in StoryCo’s seed round include Floodgate Ventures, Blockchange Ventures, Sfermion and Flamingo DAO, plus angel investors Lloyd Braun (a longtime Hollywood and media executive), Sabrina Hahn, Packy McCormick and GMoney, as well as other executives from talent agencies WME and UTA.
Read the full 15-page investor deck that StoryCo shared with Insider:
