The inaugural production allows fans and creatives to extend The Disco Ball story and share the rewards of ownership
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 26, 2023 — StoryCo today announced it has closed a $6 million seed funding round from a notable group of investors with expertise in art, media, games, entertainment, and technology. The round was co-led by Collab + Currency and Patron with additional investment from Floodgate Ventures, Blockchange Ventures, Sfermion, Flamingo DAO and angels Lloyd Braun, Sabrina Hahn, Packy McCormick, GMoney, and executives from UTA and WME.
StoryCo has also announced the launch of its ground-breaking collaborative storytelling platform, where established Hollywood creators and passionate fans combine forces to build the next great media franchises and jointly participate in their success, and revealed the upcoming release of The Disco Ball, its first story universe led by Story Architect Kyle Killen (Halo, Fear Street: Part One – 1994, Awake, Mind Games) and world-renowned artists shelby and sandy.
StoryCo founders Justin and J.P. Alanís commented on today’s news: “We feel so fortunate to have Kyle as our first Story Architect working alongside shelby and sandy to create a new immersive storytelling experience. Kyle and shelby and sandy are trailblazers at the forefront of a new technological movement at StoryCo. We are building a new model that will drive the development of incredible new stories and allow our community of creatives and fans to contribute meaningfully to its expansion.”
Releasing on the StoryCo platform in early 2023, The Disco Ball is an immersive and collaborative storytelling experience – a first-of-its-kind interactive narrative unfolding across the StoryCo site, social media and real-world interactions. The Disco Ball follows Captain Alma Cooke and her team of astronauts on the International Space Station as they are thrust into an existential journey to save the multiverse – a journey that can only be completed with the community’s help. By deciphering puzzles, discovering artifacts, and solving quests as the story unfolds on the StoryCo platform, the community will experience Alma and her crew’s story and assist as they fight forces that seek to end the Universe as we know it.
Community members can now claim their Disco Ball StoryPass to collect and earn digital art related to key story moments and characters, culminating in an exclusive piece of rare digital art that also conveys the right to control the future of The Disco Ball story. Visitors to StoryCo can sign up today to join the community, claim their StoryPass and access pre-release content.
Investor and Partner Quotes:
“StoryCo has created a pathway for an entirely new form of storytelling, allowing for a freedom of creative expression that previously didn’t exist,” said Kyle Killen. “I’ve long been looking for a way to immerse the audience more deeply into the story by making them a part of both the story and the creative process, and the technologies made available by StoryCo now enable that to happen.”
“We are honored to be the first Story Artists on the StoryCo platform,” said shelby and sandy. “It has been an incredible experience working with Kyle and the StoryCo team to empower a new form of community storytelling through amazing art that brings The Disco Ball world to life.“
“Despite Hollywood and the entertainment industry growing into such a massive business around original IP in recent years, the creative talent that help to imagine and bring these stories to life are often overlooked and excluded from the value they help to create. We believe that better models will emerge which help emerging creative talent to capture and share in the value around these IP. We’re thrilled to be partnering with the StoryCo team as they look to build a platform which does just this, helping creatives attain more control and ownership of the IP they help to create,” said Jason Yeh, General Partner at Patron.
“Historically, fans of the most well known stories and IP are often downplayed as mere consumers, not as owners, collaborators, or sources of inspiration. That changes today. Our team couldn’t be more excited to back StoryCo, the internet’s first open ecosystem of story creation, interaction, and most importantly—ownership,” said Derek Edward Schloss, Managing Partner at Collab+Currency.
About StoryCo:
StoryCo is a platform where creators and passionate fans connect, collaborate, co-create, and co-own the next generation of story franchise IP alongside established Hollywood talent. Founded by brothers Justin Alanís and J.P. Alanís, StoryCo is backed by notable investors in art, media, games, entertainment, and technology. More information about StoryCo and its inaugural production, The Disco Ball, can be found at www.story.co.
For further information, please contact:
Justin Alanis
[email protected]
For media inquiries:
M Group Strategic Communications
Dillon Arace
[email protected]
SOURCE StoryCo
