The archive · Consumer Apps · Product decision · 2024–2025
Bythen bets creators will own AI digital twins; $5M seed from Vector and Skystar
Jakarta's Bythen lets anyone turn a custom character into a 24/7 AI 'Byte' that creates content, streams and sells for them.
Bythen
What the business is
Bythen is a Jakarta platform where users build ownable digital characters, turn them into AI-powered 'Bytes', and use them to generate content, livestream, take video calls and monetize influence.
Starting capital：$5M seed (January 2025) led by Vector Inc. and Skystar Capital, with East Ventures, BEENEXT, OSK and AppWorks; angels included Tokopedia co-founder William Tanuwijaya and Pinkfong co-founder Ryan Lee
How it started
Co-founders Kevin Mintaraga (former Tokopedia CMO), Erick Saputra, Ferry Dianto and Nathalia Isadora — a team that previously built Magnivate (acquired by WPP in 2012) and Bridestory (acquired by Tokopedia in 2019) — founded Bythen in Jakarta in 2024, betting that pseudonymous social personas and a $325B creator economy would make digital twins the next creator format.
What happened
In January 2025 Bythen announced a $5M seed led by Japan's Vector Inc. and Skystar Capital, with East Ventures, BEENEXT, OSK and AppWorks joining, plus angels William Tanuwijaya (Tokopedia) and Ryan Lee (Pinkfong). The platform went into global launch, targeting 15,000 virtual influencers across Web3, gaming and other verticals, and planned original IP collections plus collaborations with international IP owners.
How it ended up
Still live: after closing the seed, Bythen began its global rollout with a goal of onboarding 15,000 virtual influencers in 2025 and announced original IP and brand-collaboration collections, monetizing Bytes through autonomous content creation, streaming and video calls.
Background
Bythen is a Jakarta startup founded in 2024 that lets users create ownable digital characters and transform them into AI-powered digital twins called 'Bytes'. A Byte can generate videos and images, livestream on YouTube or Twitch, join Zoom or Google Meet calls, and reply across social platforms around the clock — with the creator's persona but none of the creator's time.
The founding team — Kevin Mintaraga (former Tokopedia CMO), Erick Saputra, Ferry Dianto and Nathalia Isadora — had already sold Magnivate to WPP in 2012 and Bridestory to Tokopedia in 2019. Their bet: younger users increasingly want pseudonymous digital identities, and a creator economy worth $325 billion with more than 200 million creators will embrace AI personas that monetize influence without showing a face.
In January 2025 Bythen closed a $5M seed led by Japan's Vector Inc. and Skystar Capital, joined by East Ventures, BEENEXT, OSK and AppWorks, with angels William Tanuwijaya (Tokopedia) and Ryan Lee (Pinkfong). The funding backed a global launch targeting 15,000 virtual influencers in 2025 across Web3, gaming and other verticals, plus original IP collections and collaborations with international IP owners.
Bythen runs a revenue-sharing model so earnings flow to creators, and positions itself as democratizing a virtual-influencer business that previously belonged to agencies and big brands.
What has to be true
- The team's own history — Magnivate to WPP, Bridestory to Tokopedia — gave them distribution and deal-making credibility with Asian investors and IP owners.
- The bet followed an observable shift in user values: privacy, freedom of expression, and digital identity detached from physical attributes, especially among younger users.
- A revenue-share model aligned the platform with creators, making 'ownable' AI twins different from agency-run virtual influencers.
- Backers such as Vector (Japan), AppWorks (Taiwan) and East Ventures (Indonesia) brought the regional capital and content partnerships needed for a global rollout.
What can be applied
When a platform shift arrives, owning the new primitive can beat incumbent reach: Bythen bet creators would own their AI twin and monetize it directly, the same logic that built YouTube and Twitch.
Aftermath
As of mid-January 2025, Bythen had just closed its $5M seed and was executing a global launch: onboarding virtual influencers across Web3 and gaming, preparing original IP collections, and lining up collaborations with international IP owners. The company did not disclose user counts or revenue; no later funding or exit was covered by the sources verified for this case.
Sources
- Indonesia's Bythen raises $5M in seed funding led by Vector, Skystar Capital
- Fresh Funding, Safer Internet Rules, and Impact Investing Gains Momentum
- $5M for bythen to open up the virtual influencer space
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