San Francisco-based manga and anime house VIZ Media has formed a new announced the formation of VIZ Labs, a new division of the company led by Gagan Singh, exec VP, president and CTO. VIZ Labs will focus on innovation in digital content distribution, and will consolidate engineering and digital business efforts across the company into one group. VIZ Media has recently been acquiring engineering talent, and that acquisition strategy will continue under VIZ Labs.
“Innovation in distribution is an integral part of VIZ Media’s future,” said Ken Sasaki, President and CEO of VIZ Media. “As a long-time partner of the company, Gagan helped us shape our digital content strategy, and we’re delighted to have him join our team full time.”
VIZ Labs and Singh are responsible for integrating technology across the entire company, including the digital platforms for VIZ Manga and VIZ Anime. Prior to joining VIZ Media, Singh was the Founder and CEO of West Side Labs, a long time technology partner for VIZ Media.
“I am honored and excited to join VIZ Media,” said Singh. “With all VIZ Media has already accomplished in building a digital content platform, there is still phenomenal opportunity and growth potential for the company. VIZ Labs will be the tip of the spear to drive the innovation that brings the manga & anime our fans love through their preferred digital platform.”
VIZ Labs will announce its first major initiative and VIZ Media’s next digital platform this summer. For more information, visit www.viz.com.
