The founder of Japan’s top VTuber management company is reportedly worth $1.1 billion

If you live in the West, you may not have heard of Anycolor, but the Japanese company is a hot commodity on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Four months after going public, the VTuber management firm has grown so fast that co-founder Riku Tazumi now has a reported net worth of $1.1 billion.

According to Forbes, there are at least 40 living billionaires in Japan, but 26-year-old Tazumi is younger than all of them — and he’s the only billionaire in his specific field. Anycolor works with a roster of 140 partners, each of whom is associated with a specific virtual character. The biggest VTubers in the company’s stable are members of Nijisanji, a supergroup that has achieved global renown. Two Nijisanji standouts, Kanae and Kuzuha, recently cracked the list of the most-watched streams on YouTube Gaming.

With Nijisanji, Anycolor has successfully combined the spirited nature of idol culture with the logistical flexibility of non-human avatars. The group has even produced and starred in music videos of its own.

Idol groups have long been popular in Japan, but the secret of Anycolor’s success is its international expansion. According to Bloomberg, the management firm’s first earnings report revealed three-month operating profit of 2.1 billion yen (about $14 million). The company’s English-language global service doubled its sales figures quarter-over-quarter, reaching a total of 1.6 billion yen ($10.6 million).

Those encouraging earnings caused Anycolor’s share price to boom, and the company is still riding high in the stock market. Per Bloomberg, Anycolor is currently valued at $2.5 billion. Tazumi owns 45% of the firm he founded, hence his personal net worth of $1.1 billion.

For Anycolor’s Western expansion to reach its lofty goals, its founder might want to consider sitting down for an interview. Tazumi made Forbes‘ 30 under 30 list in 2020, three years after founding Anycolor. Aside from that, however, the young billionaire has rarely pulled back the curtain on his successful company. For a brand built around pseudonymous personas, I suppose that’s fitting.