The young digital artist Emily Yang, known to her legions of fans as pplpleasr, has made a name for herself with vibrant NFT works that have gone viral in the crypto community and appeared on the cover of Fortune. Now, she has an even bigger ambition: building a Web3 service that will let filmmakers finance and distribute movies by relying on fans rather than the Hollywood studio system.
On Thursday, Yang’s blockchain-based film platform, Shibuya, announced it has raised a $6.9 million funding round led by venture capital firms a16z Crypto and Variant. The round, which also attracted celebrity investors like Paris Hilton and Kevin Durant, values the company at $50 million.
