April 11, 2022 (Tokyo, Japan) – ArtSpark Holdings Inc. and Wacom Co, Ltd. today announced that the two companies have agreed to form a capital and business alliance. ArtSpark will issue new shares equivalent to 5% of its current share unit number through a third-party allocation, and Wacom will buy the newly issued shares. In addition, Wacom will purchase shares of ArtSpark from the stock market, where Wacom’s combined share-holding ratio is limited to less than 10%.
ArtSpark and Wacom have a history of collaboration such as bundling Wacom’s pen tablets with “CLIP STUDIO PAINT,” the illustration, manga and animation app by CELSYS,Inc., owned by ArtSpark. Both companies take pride in the combined efforts to nurture and lead the development of the world’s creative communities for over the past 20 years.
The alliance will further the collaboration between the two-companies. ArtSpark and Wacom strive to deliver meaningful, valuable experiences to partners and customers, through efforts in applications and services leveraging technology developments which both companies are involved in, as well as projects Wacom has been leading with other industry players.
As such, ArtSpark and Wacom will carry out the initiatives listed below, with a view to contributing to long-lasting growth of the world’s creative industries through Japanese illustration and manga culture, as well as developing and delivering solutions to support new business workflows and new ways of learning. In addition, both companies will support creators and community partners to fulfill their creative activities throughout their careers, by developing technologies which address future needs and implementing them in products, opening new avenues of value creation while protecting their copyrights.
(1) Co-development of creative work/experience through combination of Wacom products and CLIP STUDIO PAINT, for education and other specific purposes.
(2) Co-development to deliver new values through a combination of KISEKI ART service and CLIP STUDIO PAINT.
(3) Implementation of technologies for protection and management of rights and authorship of digital artwork into CLIP STUDIO PAINT, and looking into related service operations.
(4) Collaboration and development to enable new creative workflows through combination of Wacom products, new features and CLIP STUDIO PAINT.
(5) Co-development and proposal for partner companies through combination of Wacom products and CLIP STUDIO PAINT.
In addition to the above, both companies will work on continuous co-development toward user experience enhancement through a combination of Wacom products and CLIP STUDIO PAINT.
*KISEKI ART service is an R&D effort to visualize contexts of creators’ works to exploit and realize new values/experiences for creators and creative fans.
“As the instrument provider dedicated to support our customers throughout their lives, Wacom creates and delivers valuable experiences based on technology innovation, and we learn a lot with diverse communities in pursuit of meaningful, multi-dimensional growth for people and society as a whole,” said Nobutaka Ide, Wacom’s CEO and Representative Director. “We believe we can create and deliver to our customers truly meaningful experiences around hand-writing and drawing, through the alliance with ArtSpark and we can grow together further into the future, learning from each other,” he added.
“ArtSpark’s subsidiary CELSYS,Inc., is in the business of supporting creative activities of artists for graphic fields as well as content distribution through digital technologies. I am looking forward to seeing what this alliance has in store, deepening the two-company partnership further and accelerating the challenge of delivering new values and experiences to artists and our audience,” said Kei Narushima, ArtSpark’s President and Representative Director.
About Wacom
Founded in 1983, Wacom is a global company based in Japan with subsidiaries and affiliate offices around the world to support marketing and distribution in over 150 countries and areas. It is the world’s leading manufacturer of pen tablets, interactive pen displays, and digital interface solutions. The advanced technology of Wacom’s intuitive input devices has been used to create some of the most exciting digital art, films, special effects, fashion and designs around the world and provides business and home users with their leading interface technology to express their personality. The company also offers its products as OEM solutions to leading manufacturers serving incremental markets. Wacom’s interface technology, called Wacom Feel IT technologies, is also offered as an integrated solution to strategic partners. Most tablet device and PC manufacturers count on the advanced features and reliability to deliver a superior user interface experience. Wacom is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Prime Market (No. 6727).
For more information, please contact:
Corporate Communications, Wacom Co., Ltd Wacom-pr@wacom.co.jp +81-3-5337-6702
About ArtSpark Holdings
Focused on furthering R&D and implementation of graphic technology, ArtSpark Holdings offers its services to customers worldwide through two distinct business units: the Creator Support unit and the UI/UX unit. The Creator Support unit, operated by Celsys, offers the illustration, manga, and animation app, Clip Studio Paint, as well as e-book solutions that facilitate content delivery, supporting the entire creative pipeline from content creation to access and distribution to a global consumer base.
For more information, please contact:
ArtSpark Holdings Inc. press@artspark.co.jp