Brave group’s purpose is to deliver exciting content and unseen experiences born in Japan to a worldwide audience yet to be unlocked, as embodied in our mission, “Strike wonder in 8 billion hearts”.
We operate as an international company with a strong focus on VTuber business with activities centered around the development of IP productions, platforms and solutions.

This time, we interviewed Director, COO Jun Funahashi, to reflect on the fiscal year ending September 2024 (hereinafter, the 7th term) and discuss the challenges for the fiscal year ending September 2025 (hereinafter, the 8th term).

An “Action-Packed” Year Both Domestically and Internationally

── Happy New Year! Thank you for your time today!

Happy New Year. I look forward to working with you again this year. It’s been a year since our last interview, hasn’t it?

── The 7th term was a year of significant business expansion both in Japan and overseas, with business combinations and operational tie-ups. Mr. Funahashi, could you share your reflections on the 7th term from your perspective?

To put it in one phrase, it was an “action-packed year”. As Mr. Noguchi also mentioned in his interview, it started with the business combination with LaRa Inc. (hereinafter, LaRa) and D1 Inc. (hereinafter, D1; name changed to D1-Lab, Inc. in October 2024) in November 2023, and by the end of 2023, we had also established local subsidiaries in Thailand and China. Looking back, it was action-packed right from the start of the year (laughs). Not only everyone in business operations, but also those involved in the business combinations and the establishment of overseas bases must have had a whirlwind of days from the end of the 6th term and the beginning of the 7th term. Especially concerning LaRa, it was a year where we focused on PMI (*) together with Mr. Kanai, an Executive Officer, and Brave group’s PMI team.

*PMI stands for “Post-Merger Integration”, a series of processes undertaken after a business combination to maximize the effects of the integration.

── I recall it being an incredibly busy time from the beginning of the term, especially for the middle office and back-office teams! And then, in February of the new year, we had the business combination with Smarprise, Inc. (hereinafter, Smarprise)!

Yes. The business combination with Smarprise is a particularly memorable event for me during the 7th term. Actually, for about three years prior to the business combination, I had been wanting to develop a merchandise sales business, including overseas. However, we lacked the know-how for a merchandise sales business and the manpower to launch it from scratch. Amidst that, the business combination with Smarprise was decided, and I remember being extremely happy. As a result of combining Smarprise’s know-how in the merchandise sales business through its “colleize” platform and our group’s “momentum” or “drive”, we were able to launch and expand our overseas merchandise sales business, “Brave stores”, in July 2024. Expanding our business into the anime merchandise market, in addition to our group’s main VTuber market, is a considerably big challenge for our group, and I was most pleased to be able to tackle such a challenge together with Mr. Igarashi, CEO of Smarprise.

── You opened the first store at Haneda Airport Garden, and the second one at Bailian ZX Chuangquchang, a famous complex building for subculture shops in Shanghai. After that, you’ve been rolling out pop-up stores (*) in various countries!

It was our group’s first venture into physical retail. We opened both permanent stores and pop-up stores (*), and we gained various insights, especially from our overseas expansion. For domestic store development, we could predict results and outcomes by analyzing competitors’ histories, and the backgrounds and factors of their success. However, with overseas store development, there were still few precedents, and it was a situation where, so to speak, “we wouldn’t know until we tried Even with an uncertain future, Mr. Igarashi, Executive Officer Mr. Takeda, and all the members of the Brave stores division united as one and were able to persevere to the end without giving up. Furthermore, not only through the Brave stores business, but also because I myself was constantly traveling outside Japan during the 7th term, I was able to create connections and forge relationships with various people I wouldn’t have met otherwise.

*Pop-up store: A store that is opened for a limited period, such as a few days to a few weeks.

── So, expanding your business overseas led to new connections with new colleagues!

For example, xxxxnese Inc. (read as “Needs”, hereinafter “xxxxnese”), with whom we invested and formed a capital and business alliance in September 2024. They have now become one of our indispensable and valued “Brave Nakama (colleagues)” for our expansion in China! They assisted us with the Brave stores pop-up store at Shanghai’s Bailian ZX Chuangquchang and the operation of our permanent store in Nanjing, China. Also, in Southeast Asia, we had a good connection with “Algorhythm Project”, a VTuber production company active mainly in Thailand, and from late September to early October 2024, we were able to open a pop-up store in “UnionMall”, a shopping mall in Bangkok. Then, without a break, in early October, we opened a pop-up store at the “CICF x AGF (Guangzhou Animation & Game Festival)” event held in Guangzhou. We have been expanding the Brave stores business mainly in Asia, with Shanghai, Thailand, and Guangzhou so far, but we want to continue to actively expand our group’s businesses and services, including Brave stores, not only to the regions we have developed so far but also to other countries and regions.

── Speaking of goals, we asked about the goals set for the 7th term during the last interview. Could you tell us what kind of goals have been set for the 8th term?

There are goals newly set from the 8th term, and goals continued from the 7th term.

As for the goals newly set from the 8th term, it’s the promotion of my role as COO (Chief Operating Officer) at Brave group, which I assumed in the 8th term. In the 7th term, I was somewhat removed from overall supervision and focused on the group’s management strategy and the management of the operating companies I was in charge of. However, in the 8th term, I will once again take on the role of overseeing the entire group as COO. I cannot share the details, but I intend to execute the plans formulated at the beginning of the term.

As for the goals continued from the 7th term, they are the promotion of business combinations and PMI. As I mentioned at the beginning, domestically, we had business combinations with LaRa and D1 in November 2023, and with Smarprise in February 2024. Furthermore, overseas, we had a business combination with the overseas VTuber group “idol” in July 2024. The business combination of an overseas company was a first for our group, but through this experience, we relearned and experienced the importance of not just imposing our group’s culture, but also respecting the cultures of different countries and companies, and mutually understanding and accepting those cultures. Since the middle of the 7th term, Mr. Shimomura, Executive Officer, Head of FP&A, and General Manager of the Management Strategy Office, and other colleagues who I can confidently rely on, have gathered to advance the business combination projects. It is because I was able to trust my colleagues and delegate tasks to them that we were able to achieve significant results in the short period of one year. In the 8th term as well, I want to continue to focus on promoting business combinations and executing PMI.

── Speaking of colleagues, the number of employees also increased from 156 at the end of the fiscal year September 2023 (hereinafter, end of 6th term) to 361 at the end of the 7th term. The number of colleagues working at overseas offices, not just domestic ones, has also increased!

By continuously sending out messages from the management team through Brave Story and other channels, people who empathize with our group’s purpose and mission, and those who are attracted to our group’s “momentum” or “drive have joined us. From the 8th term onwards, we will continue to disseminate detailed information beyond our services, such as our group’s future prospects, the status of each company including their businesses, our internal culture, organizational structure, etc., to the public through Brave Story. On the other hand, the current situation is that the expansion of business and organization is not proportional. Although the increase in colleagues has broadened the “range of what we can do” as an organization, I believe there is still plenty of room for growth in each individual’s “range of what they can do”. From the 8th term onwards, while of course continuing to increase our colleagues, we also want to create a lean and strong organization by ensuring each individual continues to expand their “range of what they can do”.

The Ideal Organization Discovered Through Leading Businesses

── From the 8th term onwards, each of us must make even greater efforts to broaden our range of tasks. Mr. Funahashi, you yourself were in charge of the back-office division until the 6th term, focusing on strengthening the organization of the group HR Department and group Accounting and Finance Department. In the 7th term, you were leading businesses both domestically and internationally. Did you anticipate such a move when you first joined our group?

Actually, I didn’t anticipate it at all. However, after joining our group, as I got involved in various businesses as the executive in charge of the back office, I started to think that I would someday like to try launching and promoting a business myself. Therefore, from the 7th term, I entrusted the back-office domain to Mr. Watanabe, who was then the General Manager of the group HR Department and is currently Executive Officer, Head of Back Office and General Manager of the group HR Department, and the FP&A domain to Mr. Shimomura, Executive Officer, Head of FP&A and General Manager of the Management Strategy Office. I decided to commit myself to managing operating companies and launching and promoting businesses.

── So that’s the background to you now standing at the forefront of various businesses, leading both the business and the organization. Has your “view”, so to speak, changed as your role has changed?

Yes, it has changed significantly. Previously, I was involved in various businesses from the perspective of a “supporter”—how our group’s businesses could grow and what kind of support was needed for that. However, by leading the businesses and organizations I was responsible for as a business head since the 7th term, I saw things differently. That is, building organizations for both creating and supporting businesses is crucial in either case. When actually promoting a business, I realized anew the necessary organizational structure and system for growing the business, thinking, “If only this role belonged to the business promotion side”, or “If only there was better coordination between businesses”, or “This function needed to be centralized in the back office or middle office”. It was precisely because of such direct experiences that, with the cooperation of Executive Officers Mr. Watanabe, Mr. Shimomura, and all other Brave group Executive Officers, we significantly revamped the management structure at the beginning of the 8th term.

── I see! That’s why you consolidated the previously subdivided business segments into larger domains and reorganized the organizational structure to enable smooth collaboration between various businesses and services.

We organized the business domains into three segments: IP Production, IP Platform, and IP Solution, and assigned a supervising manager to each. Also, we consolidated the multiple departments within Brave group by their nature and roles into three areas—Middle Office, FP&A, and Back Office—and assigned a supervising manager to each area. By organizing these domains, we have established a system where the organization can function organically, aiming for improved performance. We will continue to change the structure to ensure it remains the optimal organization according to the company and business situation.

To instill the Brave group culture

── Because our group is one where the organization continually changes with the growth of the company and its businesses, we, the Brave Story’s team, want to continue to communicate these real changes in business, organization, and environment within the company to everyone! And, you mentioned “investing in culture” as a challenge for the 7th term. What kind of challenges will you be taking on this term?

We have designated the 8th term as the “first year of culture investment” and we will instill Brave group’s culture in all members working for our group both domestically and internationally. Regarding the “Culture deck (*)” I mentioned in the previous interview, the management team and the group HR Department are currently working diligently on its creation, so we ask for your patience until we can release it to everyone!

*Culture deck: A tool that clearly expresses the culture and values of a company or organization, helping members share the organizational culture and understand action guidelines and policies.

── We hope that colleagues joining from this term onwards will read the articles published on Brave Story and the Culture deck to understand “Brave group-ness” before they join.

Exactly. While we have been able to communicate our group’s “momentum” = “drive” and “authority” = “presence” through the efforts of the Public Relations Office, we believe we still haven’t adequately communicated our “culture” = “our group’s uniqueness”. That’s why, by continuing to disseminate the Culture deck and Brave Story both internally and externally, we believe we can create a situation where everyone can understand “Brave group-ness” and attract colleagues who empathize with it. Also, I believe there will be people joining our group this term and onwards through job changes or business combinations. To ensure that our group’s culture permeates all new members joining us, we want them to tackle their respective tasks this term with a shared understanding of “Brave group-ness” through various measures.

── While we continue to refine and operate the various HR initiatives introduced since our 7th term to embed the “Brave group culture” in all team members, we are also committed to helping you all exemplify this culture. We will continue to feature the stories and messages of our high-performing members throughout the group.

In addition to disseminating messages, it is important that Brave group’s Executive Officers, the directors of each subsidiary, and senior members leading departments understand “Brave group-ness”, convey it to their team members, communicate “Brave group-ness” within the system, and allow members to experience “Brave group-ness”. For example, there are mechanisms for members to directly experience and understand “Brave group-ness” through the “Adventure System”, an HR system introduced by the group HR Department aimed at discovering and developing candidates for next-generation leadership roles, and the “Brave group Award (MVP System)”, an HR system for evaluating and commending project teams and members within our group in Japan who have demonstrated outstanding behavior and results that serve as norms and role models. Furthermore, I hope to create an environment with the cooperation of the group HR Department, our group’s Executive Officers, subsidiary directors, and senior members, where individuals can understand “Brave group-ness” from their daily work and learnings from communication with superiors and colleagues, and act unconsciously based on it. Also, I believe it’s important for us directors to continue conveying our thoughts on the company and business through Brave Story. Currently, we are only sending messages to members based in Japan, but in the future, we want to directly convey our words to members working at overseas offices as well. Then, despite differences in country and culture, if all members working worldwide can have the awareness that “we are members of Brave group” and proceed with their work and discussions in each organization based on Brave group’s values and way of thinking, that would be the best.

“Revolution” myself in Line with Change