# Spellbrush

> Spellbrush is a San Francisco generative AI studio building anime games and AI tools for artists. The team behind niji・journey - the anime model co-developed with Midjourney - and games like Arrowmancer, Cake Duel, and Waifu Labs. A Y Combinator W18 alum led by Cory Li, focused on using deep learning to help human artists create high-quality anime visuals.

- **Founded:** 2018
- **Headquarters:** San Francisco, California, United States
- **Founders:** Cory Li (CEO & Co-founder), Ruwen Liu (Creative Director & Co-founder), Haitao Mao (CTO & Co-founder)
- **Team size:** ~30
- **Products:** niji・journey, Arrowmancer, Waifu Labs, Cake Duel
- **Notable:** Co-built niji・journey, widely regarded as the leading anime-specialized generative model., Y Combinator W18 graduate., Maintains a 30-person studio profitably without large institutional rounds.

## Products & services

- **niji・journey** — A generative AI model co-built with Midjourney, fine-tuned specifically for anime and illustration. Used through Discord, web, and a dedicated Android app.
- **Arrowmancer** — An upcoming anime mobile tactics game - 'witches in space' - inspired by Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy Tactics, and X-Com.
- **Waifu Labs** — An earlier Spellbrush project that generates custom anime portraits using deep learning - a viral introduction to the studio's work.
- **Cake Duel** — A playful anime card/duel game from Spellbrush's catalog.

## Achievements

- Co-built niji・journey, widely regarded as the leading anime-specialized generative model.
- Y Combinator W18 graduate.
- Maintains a 30-person studio profitably without large institutional rounds.
- Featured speaker at YC Tech Talks: Designing Game Characters with Deep Learning.

## Latest updates

- **2024-09** — Spellbrush actively hiring across LLM, AI Research (Anime), Unity, AI Infrastructure, and Frontend roles for Arrowmancer and niji・journey.
- **2023-2024** — niji・journey expands to dedicated mobile app on Google Play with subscription tiers.

## Links

- Website: https://spellbrush.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/spellbrush
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/spellbrush
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CeRGNhUDYw

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/spellbrush
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-28