The advent of text-to-image AI diffusion models uncovered a promising opportunity for the digital comics landscape. Leveraging this tech, California-based Dashtoon is on a mission to make this cutting-edge technology accessible to storytellers worldwide.
Currently, Dashtoon has snapped a $5 million seed funding led by Matrix Partners India that invested in AtomicWork and SuperOps.ai, and Stellaris Venture Partners with participation from prominent angel investors. This funding round will enable Dashtoon to deepen its AI research, progress product development, and content production in the coming months.
Generative AI for comic creation
San Francisco and London-based Dashtoon was founded in 2022 by Sanidhya Narain, Lalith Gudipati, and Soumyadeep Mukherjee. Lalith and Sanidhya were both part of the founding team of audio entertainment startup Pocket FM and were instrumental in building and growing the product in the US. Soumyadeep has built and scaled deep-tech teams at various startups including solving for cancer diagnosis at Morphle Labs.
Beyond storytelling, comic creation requires hard skills like sketching, colouring, lettering, etc., thus creating an entry barrier for this medium. The current creator ecosystems were built over decades, and it wasn’t possible to replicate them in other parts of the world. With Dashtoon, any storyteller, from published author to aspiring writer, in any part of the world, can effortlessly create, distribute, and monetise their comics and graphic novels.
The company aims to democratise the creation of digital comics and empower creators across the globe with its Dashtoon AI Studio and Dashtoon Comic Reader Apps.
Dashtoon Studio streamlines comic creation
Dashtoon Studio is a valuable tool that complements the creative process, empowering creators to unleash their imagination and craft compelling narratives without being bogged down by repetitive, time-consuming tasks. A synergy between technology and creativity paves the way for innovative storytelling and content creation.
Dashtoon Studio, the first of its kind, guarantees unparalleled character consistency, fine control over image composition, and streamlined comic creation workflows. This state-of-the-art platform provides creators access to an extensive character library and the capability to train and monetise their unique characters, enabling the production of professional-quality, engaging content ready for global consumption.
The creator can use smart AI editing capabilities in the studio to edit the generated output. What used to take 40-50 hours to create an episode can currently be done in 5-6 hours, thus allowing creators to publish a new episode daily on Dashtoon Comic Reader apps.
“Content businesses have largely capitalised on technology for distribution. We at Dashtoon believe it’s time to bring that technological edge to content creation itself. Generative AI will not only level the playing field for storytellers worldwide but will also meet the diverse tastes of global consumers,” said Sanidhya Narain, CEO and Co-founder of Dashtoon.
“With Dashtoon Studio, any storyteller, regardless of their artistic skills or technical knowledge, can create digital comics, breaking traditional barriers in illustrated content creation. Our vision is to become a global IP powerhouse by marrying thousands of creators with millions of readers,” added Soumyadeep Mukherjee, CTO and Co-founder.
“Dashtoon’s mission is to create a world where the art of comic creation is as widespread and culturally ingrained as it is in places like Japan and Korea.” added Lalith Gudipati, COO and Co-founder. “We are thrilled to pioneer a movement that integrates technology and creativity, bringing forth a global creative renaissance in digital comics.”
