President Donald Trump referred to NFL teams to hearth gamers who knelt at some stage in the anthem, which further fueled the talk. Kaepernick has not performed in the NFL since that season, and he filed a complaint against the league, claiming proprietors conspired to keep him out of a process. The two aspects settled in 2019.
Lumi’s Power to Empower
Kaepernick’s goal with Lumi is to give power back to creators and help them tell their stories without being at the mercy of gatekeepers. “Too often we see race, gender, sexuality and other identities used as tools for marketing or storytelling only to be discarded when no longer convenient or profitable,” Kaepernick said in a statement. “Lumi will prioritize marginalized people as storytellers but also give them an understanding of how they can own and monetize their work.” The platform is set to launch in late 2022 and has already raised $3 million in funding from companies like Medium, Google Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz.
Will Lumi Make Noise?
Some may say this project from the start or accuse Kaepernick of jumping on tech buzzwords without understanding how AI works. But I think there’s something here worth exploring, especially if Lumi lives up to its promise of empowering more voices and democratizing storytelling. However, even if it does succeed, we shouldn’t consider Lumi — or any other AI platform — as a replacement for human creativity and genuine connection. At best, it should complement our existing tools and expand what we think is possible in storytelling; at worst, it’ll generate interesting stories that leave us scratching our heads.
Kaepernick Empowering Storytellers with Lumi
“On my own story — the impact and implications of other people creating their narratives around it and telling it from their perspective — why should that be the case?” said Kaepernick in an interview with TechCrunch. “There are times in the past where I could have jumped out and told my story differently, but I try to be thoughtful of how I’m building things and why I’m doing them.
But with Lumi, Kaepernick sees an opportunity to empower storytellers more broadly. He may release a story on the platform, but that’s not quite the point. Kaepernick’s difficulties with the media industry have significantly impacted his life, but now he’s using the lesson to create a more significant solution.
Lumi’s Funding and Beta Launch
On Wednesday, Lumi is emerging from stealth with $4 million in seed funding led by Seven Seven Six. The company also allows creators to sign up for its beta version today.
Features of Lumi
Kaepernick sees Lumi as an end-to-end media company—eventually venturing into video—offering creator tools, a distribution platform, publishing, and merchandising services. Lumi is starting small with creator tools for comic book illustrators, specifically manga, the Japanese style.
The first thing creators do when storytelling with Lumi is visit the website. In a text-based AI model, you can create your story’s main character by describing their backstory, physical characteristics, and other traits. That leads to an AI image generation of your character, which illustrators could use as inspiration or the actual character imagery to build a story around.
But Lumi also wants to make physical publishing and merchandising easier for creators. Kaepernick says his company will handle all the business logistics so creators can focus on storytelling, making Lumi a one-stop shop for all a creator’s needs.
Kaepernick Subscription Tiers and Revenue Sharing
Creators can choose from three monthly subscription tiers — $20, $40, and $75 — with more expensive tiers unlocking advanced features for creators. Kaepernick wants to share the revenue from these stories, physical copies, and merchandising with the creators.
Focusing on Manga Fans
Kaepernick’s plan centers around making Lumi an entertainment platform for manga fans. The idea is that getting a story on Lumi’s website has some value, but that only works if people are coming to the destination.
Kaepernick’s Experience in Silicon Valley
Lumi is the first startup Kaepernick founded, but the former QB has been angel investing since 2017 and tells TechCrunch he has more than 50 investments. Kaepernick has also been on the digital publishing platform Medium board since 2020. There, he’s worked alongside influential Silicon Valley investors — including fellow board members such as a16z co-founder Ben Horowitz, Medium co-founder Evan Williams, and Heretic Ventures founder Mariam Naficy — who he says have shaped his business sense as a tech founder.
Building a Tech Company
“I don’t think I woke up one day and was like, ‘Hey, I’m gonna build a tech company,'” said Kaepernick. “But we were trying to solve this problem for creators we’re engaging with. It just so happens that building a tech company is the best way for us to do this.”
“I don’t have any concerns entering the space during this time,” said Kaepernick. “My thinking is, if we are serving our end user and creator in the best way possible, then we will have a successful company, and everything else will take care of itself.”
Kaepernick Addressing Bias in AI Models
Lumi aims to uplift voices that need to be humoredly. Kaepernick’s business will use a few foundational AI models, but he’s keen to address the biases plaguing LLMs for years.
“AI models as they exist today will have the biases of the past built into them. We’ve seen that, we know that,” says Kaepernick. “When we think about narratives and how people, AI will accelerate things exponentially. That can be both exponentially good and bad. We hope to build something to create that better path for storytellers and creators.”
