VShojo Closes; CEO Admits to Spending Charity Funds
After days of silence, the CEO of VShojo, Justin Ignacio, has published a statement regarding allegations of mismanagement and unpaid funds. In the statement, reproduced below, Ignacio admits to spending funds raised during charity subathons.
VShojo has failed, and I've mismanaged the company into the situation you're all witnessing. So today I am sharing the difficult news that VShojo is shutting down, and I take full responsibility for the decisions that led us to this point.
I've been doing everything I can to fundraise and right the ship these past few months, but despite my efforts, we are in a worse position, and those I care about are now paying the price. Over the past few years, we raised around $11 million to pursue a bold, talent-first approach in Tubing, prioritizing creators and community over short-term profits, to achieve long-term sustainability.
Our funding went directly to our creators through generous splits, debut investments, infrastructure, concerts, events, and staffing, all designed to support them. We also wanted talent to own their IP, which we knew was a unique creator-first approach for an agency. However, despite all our efforts, the business failed to generate the revenue we needed to sustain that model, and eventually, we ran out of money.
Additionally, I acknowledge that some of the money spent by the company was raised in connection with talent activity, which I later learned was intended for a charitable initiative. At the time, we were working hard to raise additional investment capital to cover our costs, and I firmly believed, based on the information available to us, that we would be able to do so and cover all expenses.
We were unsuccessful in our fundraising efforts. I made the decision to pursue funding, and I own its consequences. I am deeply sorry to all the talents, staff, friends, and community members who believed in our brand. You did not deserve this.
Justin (Gunrun) (Originally posted July 25, 2025, on X)
This week, the VTubing scene was rocked by the news that popular VTuber, Ironmouse, was owed over US$500,000 in donations to the Immune Deficiency Foundation. She announced her departure during a YouTube video on July 21. Within the next 24 hours, all of VShojo's other talents announced their departures.
Brett Michael Orr
In a tell-all post on X, Veibae discussed multiple problems with VShojo, and alleged that VShojo's company lawyer had an expired legal license. She characterized her contract with VShojo as "predatory" and the COO, Daniel Sanders, as "hostile."
The Vtuber agency VShojo first launched in November 2020, and held twenty-one talents over its five years in operation.
