Amazon leads $20m investment in Superplastic, Studios sets first-look

The Janky & Guggimon Show is fronted by characters that have their own social media accounts

Tech giant Amazon is leading a US$20m investment round in Superplastic, a US-based design studio that creates synthetic ‘celebrity’ characters.

Also involved in the Series A investment round are Craft Ventures, Google Ventures, Galaxy Digital, Kering, Sony Japan, Scribble Ventures, Kakao, Animoca Brands, Day One Ventures and Betawork, with Superplastic now having raised around US$58m in total.

Amazon made the investment through its venture capital arm, the Alexa Fund, which invests in various areas of technology including new media, smart consumer electronics and ambient intelligence.

In addition, the tech giant’s content arm, Amazon Studios, is developing a TV series featuring Superplastic characters Janky and Guggimon, who have their own social media accounts and rack up millions of views across platforms including TikTok and Instagram. Amazon Studios and Superplastic have inked a first-look deal to create series and films starring characters from the Superplastic universe.

The initial project, The Janky & Guggimon Show, follows the adventures of two lazy and incompetent friends who leave a trail of chaos in their wake as they try to realise their ambition of becoming right and famous. Each episode of the in-development project features a cast of animated and human celebrity friends.

“As we expand the Alexa Fund to address a wider range of consumer technologies that include ambient computing, smart devices, and the future of entertainment, we’re very excited to add Superplastic to our portfolio,” said Paul Bernard, director of the Alexa Fund.

“Superplastic’s virtual celebrities delight audiences and meet their customers where they are, and we see them as demonstrative of a new class of IP that is going to be increasingly relevant with younger generations.”