The financing marks the largest confirmed funding round in the emerging microdrama market outside of Asia, cementing HOLYWATER as the category leader among Western players in an $11 billion global market.
KYIV, Ukraine & LISBON, Portugal, January 15, 2026–(BUSINESS WIRE)–HOLYWATER, the leading tech company reshaping global entertainment through its premier products — My Drama for vertical series, My Passion for books, and My Muse for AI streaming — today announced the successful closing of a $22 million financing round.
The round was led by Horizon Capital, with strategic participation from U.S. investors, including Endeavor Catalyst and Wheelhouse. This transaction represents the largest single investment round in the microdrama sector to date outside of Asia, surpassing recent raises by Hollywood-backed competitors.
This infusion of capital positions HOLYWATER to build the mobile-first “Netflix” for vertical video streaming and accelerate the development of its AI-driven content ecosystem to include AI-enabled comics and anime, in addition to significantly strengthening its IP incubation and distribution engine to expand into new genres and content categories.
HOLYWATER has established itself as a dominant force in the entertainment tech sector. It was included in Sifted’s 2025 list of Europe’s fastest-growing startups (backed by the Financial Times), based on percentage revenue growth over the past three financial years. HOLYWATER’s flagship app, My Drama, was named “Best Streaming Service” People’s Voice at the 2025 Webby Awards and grew revenue by circa 2x in 2025. Furthermore, its AI-powered app, My Muse, is also a leader in the AI streaming category.
The $22 million round follows an earlier investment from Fox Entertainment in October 2025. Fox is actively producing a slate of more than 200 original microdramas and vertical series for the company’s apps that will debut over the next two years, while collaborating with Hollywood studios, established talent, and emerging creators to build a centralized home for premium mobile-first storytelling.
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Bogdan Nesvit and Anatolii Kasianov, Co-Founders and Co-CEOs of HOLYWATER, said: “This is the largest investment in the microdrama space to date outside of Asia, and it sends a clear message to the industry: short-form, studio-quality storytelling is here to stay. Vertical series are no longer an experiment or an uncertain niche — they are proving to be a scalable, long-term format and AI-powered IP incubation engine for the next generation of global hits across multiple genres, far beyond microdramas. With the support of our partners, we’re pushing the entertainment industry forward as we redefine how stories are discovered and experienced worldwide.”
Vasile Tofan, Senior Partner, Horizon Capital, added: “We are thrilled to partner with Bogdan, Anatolii and the entire HOLYWATER team. Their innovative approach to content production, combined with a disciplined, data-driven model for user acquisition, has enabled the company to scale rapidly while maintaining strong engagement and retention. In a short period of time, HOLYWATER has built a leading position in the emerging short-form content category, delivering approximately 2x annual revenue growth with a high level of capital efficiency. We look forward to supporting the team as they continue to build a durable, category-defining business.”
Brent Montgomery, CEO, Wheelhouse, said: “The next generation of entertainment is being built for where and how audiences consume content, and HOLYWATER has created a standout vertical storytelling platform with a clear scalable monetization engine. Wheelhouse has been building our internal AI and creative teams to further explore how these tools can unlock new forms of format development and production across our ecosystem of athletes, entertainers, creators and production companies. We see HOLYWATER as a great fit for our strategy.”
Industry Highlights
Explosive Market Demand: Axios reported this week that microdramas generated an estimated $3 billion in revenue globally in 2025, excluding China — nearly triple the prior year — with the U.S. as the biggest market at $1.3 billion. U.S. revenues are expected to climb to 3.8 billion per year by decade’s end.
Shifting Consumer Habits: Consumer spend on short-drama apps hit $700 million in Q1 2025 -a 4x year-over-year increase – signaling a permanent shift from mobile-first novelty to a globalized entertainment standard.
Disrupting Traditional Production: Unlike the traditional Hollywood model, TheWrap reports vertical series budgets typically land around $150K–$300K with an 8–10 day production cycle, enabling rapid iteration and high volume.
HOLYWATER is an AI-first tech company reshaping entertainment by pairing creators’ imagination with AI efficiency to bring stories to life and deliver them to global audiences. Its content platforms reach over 85 million users and include: My Drama, the #1 vertical streaming app among American and European companies; My Passion, the #1 independent digital book publishing platform among American and European companies; My Muse, a leading platform for vertical series produced with the support of generative AI, and Freebits, an ad-supported vertical streaming service offering premium content for free.
Horizon Capital is a leading private equity firm in Europe with $1.6bn+ AUM, investing via funds with a tenure of 30 years and backed by institutional investors with $700bn+ in capital. The firm is an active, value-added partner, investing in visionary entrepreneurs leading fast-growing businesses, primarily in technology, e-commerce, and innovative industries.
Endeavor Catalyst, founded in 2012, is the global investment fund of Endeavor with $540M in Assets Under Management across four funds. Endeavor Catalyst has invested in 390+ companies across 35+ countries to date. The portfolio comprises 35 exits and 66 companies valued at over $1B.
Wheelhouse is an entertainment, talent and investing platform founded in 2018 by Brent Montgomery. The multi-faceted company invests in IP and brings together businesses, brands and talent, amplifying those partnerships through content and storytelling. Wheelhouse touts production labels Wheelhouse Studios, Spoke Studios, Campfire Studios, Butternut and Twist, with hit shows including Netflix’s Million Dollar Secret, Unknown Number: The High School Catfish, America’s Sweethearts and King of Collectibles, Hulu’s Got to Get Out, A+E’s reignited Duck Dynasty: The Revival, ID’s Who is Luigi Mangione? and Max and Food Network’s Last Bite Hotel, among others. Wheelhouse operates from its creative hubs in New York, Los Angeles, Connecticut and London.
