Colin Kaepernick, former NFL quarterback and civil rights activist, is venturing into the tech industry with the launch of Lumi, an AI storytelling platform aimed at empowering creators to tell and own their stories. Kaepernick’s foray into the tech world is not a sudden shift, as he has been involved in angel investing since 2017 and has more than 50 investments to date. Additionally, he has been serving on the board of digital publishing platform Medium since 2020, working alongside influential Silicon Valley investors.
Lumi, emerging from stealth with $4 million in seed funding led by Seven Seven Six, aims to address the challenges faced by storytellers, particularly in the realm of comic book illustration, starting with the Japanese style, manga. The platform offers creator tools, a distribution platform, publishing, and merchandising services, with a focus on providing an end-to-end solution for creators’ needs.
The platform’s AI capabilities enable creators to craft their stories by first creating their main character through a text-based AI model, which then generates an AI image of the character. Subsequently, Lumi’s AI assists in planning out the story, guiding creators through the process of structuring the narrative and generating a script. The final product is a graphic novel, formatted with imagery, dialogue, and captions, which can be published and distributed digitally through Lumi’s website.
In addition to digital publishing, Lumi aims to simplify physical publishing and merchandising for creators, handling the business logistics to allow creators to focus on storytelling. The platform offers three monthly subscription tiers, with revenue from stories, physical copies, and merchandising shared with the creators.
Kaepernick’s vision for Lumi extends beyond his personal story, aiming to create a solution that empowers storytellers more broadly. His experiences with the media industry and the challenges he has faced have inspired him to create a platform that addresses the entrenched problems faced by creators, such as gatekeeping, production costs, and loss of ownership of their work.
Kaepernick’s entry into the tech industry at this politically charged moment reflects his commitment to serving creators and storytellers, with a focus on product and a determination to create a better path forward for creators and their narratives. With Lumi, Kaepernick aims to uplift voices that are not given a sufficient platform today, leveraging AI to accelerate storytelling while addressing biases that have plagued AI models for years.
The launch of Lumi marks Kaepernick’s endeavor to create a meaningful impact in the tech industry, drawing on his experiences and insights to build a platform that empowers creators to own and share their stories. Through Lumi AI video tools and the business acumen garnered from his investments, Kaepernick’s media influence extends into technology, showcasing his dedication to revolutionizing how stories are told and shared.
