Crunchyroll Co-Founder Launches AniBiz to Untangle Anime Licensing

The anime licensing market has long been a maze of fragmented deals, regional restrictions, and opaque negotiations. Now Kun Gao, co-founder of Crunchyroll, is betting he can fix it with AniBiz, a new B2B platform designed to centralize international anime licensing in one place.

The platform marks the first attempt to build a dedicated marketplace specifically for anime content licensing outside Japan. Rather than rely on scattered brokers, direct studio relationships, and case-by-case negotiations, AniBiz aims to let distributors, streamers, and broadcasters browse available licenses, understand market conditions, and close deals more efficiently.

The backing is significant. Aniplex of America, Toei Animation, and TOHO Global are among the major studios and distributors already supporting the platform, alongside ADK Emotions, Pony Canyon, TV Asahi, TV TOKYO, and Fuji Creative Corporation. That roster suggests real industry buy-in—these aren't fringe players, but some of the heaviest hitters in anime production and distribution.

The pitch is straightforward: AniBiz provides market analyses alongside licensing access, helping international buyers make informed decisions about which titles to pursue and at what price points. For smaller distributors or new entrants trying to break into anime licensing, the transparency alone could be transformative. Right now, acquiring anime rights often requires existing relationships, industry knowledge, or expensive consultants. A centralized platform with data and available inventory changes that calculus.

Gao's timing is worth noting. Streaming has democratized anime consumption globally, but the licensing infrastructure hasn't kept pace. Studios still negotiate individually with dozens of platforms across different territories, and smaller players struggle to compete for content. AniBiz targets that friction point directly.

Whether the platform succeeds depends on adoption. Studios need to list titles; distributors need to find deals worth making. But with backing from this caliber of industry players, AniBiz has the credibility to become the standard. If it works, it could reshape how anime moves from Japan to the rest of the world—faster, cheaper, and more accessible to anyone willing to navigate it.

Source: Anime2You