is a virtual YouTuber agency owned by Japanese tech entertainment company Cover Corporation. In addition to acting as a multi-channel network, Hololive Production also handles merchandising especially in music production and concert organization. As of January 2023, the agency manages 75 VTubers from three different native languages (Japanese, Indonesian and English), totalling over 50 million subscribers, including several of the most subscribed VTubers on YouTube. The name "Hololive" was initially used for Cover's 3D stream distribution app, launched in December 2017, and later its female VTuber agency, whose first generation debuted from May to June 2018. In December 2019, Hololive was merged with Cover's male Holostars agency and INoNaKa music label under the unified "Hololive Production" brand. History 2016–19: Beginnings and growth was founded on 13 June 2016 by an entrepreneur who had developed video game characters in collaboration with Sanrio at the content company Imagineer and founded various startup companies. Cover at first focused on augmented (AR) and virtual reality (VR) software, and received funding from incubator firms Tokyo VR Startups and Recruit. At the end of March 2017, the company showcased a tech demo for a program enabling real-time avatar motion capture and interactive, two-way live streaming. According to Tanigo, the idea for a "virtual idol" agency was inspired by other virtual characters, such as Hatsune Miku. Kizuna AI, who began the virtual YouTuber trend in 2016, was another likely inspiration. Cover debuted , the first VTuber using the company's avatar capture software, on 7 September 2017. On 21 December, the company released hololive, a smartphone app for iOS and Android enabling users to view virtual character live streams using AR camera technology. On 5 April 2018, Cover removed the application's AR features and changed it into a tool for mapping a user's facial movements onto animated avatars in real-time. This update enabled at-home auditions using the iPhone X. The first generation of Hololive VTubers debuted from May to June 2018, and a second generation followed in August and September. Hololive Gamers, a group specializing in let's plays, debuted in December 2018 and April 2019. On 8 January 2019, Hololive announced that it had signed a contract with the Chinese video platform Bilibili, under which it would open 15 channels on the platform and simultaneously stream there and on YouTube. It would also begin collaborating with Chinese-speaking volunteers to translate Hololive videos, and start releasing original content for