Internet group Tencent has agreed to pay an undisclosed amount for a majority stake in one of its portfolio companies, China-based animation and comic producer Byment, it revealed on Sunday.
Founded in 2016, Byment initially concentrated on digital comics, with its lead title based on 16th century Chinese novel Journey to the West.
The company has since branched out into computer generated animation headed by an animated version of Journey to the West with Tencent’s support, in addition to publishing more titles, such as Law of Creation.
Tencent provided an eight-figure amount of series A funding for Byment in May 2019, and it has not disclosed details of any additional financing.
Byment has also made an animated tie-in to one of Tencent’s most popular gaming titles, a first-person shooter called Crossfire, and the companies intend to collaborate on crossover promotions in future.
Tencent is at present the largest video game distributor in the world and has begun investing in parallel areas to maintain its exposure to intellectual property. It provided $125m for online comic portal Kuaikan Manhua in August 2019, investing in comics and animation producer Fen-Z the same month.
Image courtesy of Byment.
