Who is GunRun? All about the VShojo CEO who started his career with Twitch

Justin ‘GunRun’ Ignacio has been creating waves all across the content creator and VTuber ecosystem by announcing on July 24 that his talent agency, VShojo was shutting down.

A tech entrepreneur, Ignacio was a part of the founding team of popular live streaming platform, Twitch, as per his LinkedIn page. Ignacio, who remained at Twitch till 2018, was responsible for ensuring that the simultaneous streams running on the platform function smoothly. As per Forbes, Ignacio also set up Twitch’s live events such as the DOTA 2 International and League of Legends Championship Series.

GunRun also built the UnlimitedIRL backpack which enables live streamers to stream on the go, prompting the success of many of Twitch’s most popular genres, as per Dexerto.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Justin Ignacio (@thegunrun)

Ignacio co-founded VShojo as a talent agency for the budding VTuber agency in 2020. With its headquarters located in San Francisco, VShojo was instrumental in introducing VTubers, or Virtual YouTubers who are avatar-based content creators in the United States. With Japan already at the forefront of the booming VTuber industry with talent agencies such as Hololive and Nijisanji, VShojo sought to project itself as catering to the English-speaking Western audiences.

About Justin ‘GunRun’ Ignacio and VShojo’s goals

Justin ‘GunRun’ Ignacio took over the role of CEO at VShojo, Phillip “MowtenDoo” Fortunat became the company’s Chief Technology Officer. As per The Hollywood Reporter, Ignacio released a statement in 2020 outlining the goals of the company, which read:

“VTubing experienced a massive upswing this year as more creators and viewers embraced avatar-rooted entertainers. With the VTuber medium exploding and providing a large new audience for brands, it was the perfect time to launch VShojo as a conduit between both parties. Now if brands want to enter the VTuber space and tap into the top talent, we’ve streamlined the process for everyone.”

VShojo’s talent lineup at the time of their launch included VTubers such as Projekt Melody,  Ironmouse, Nyatasha Nyanners, Zentreya, and Hime Hajime, some of whom already had independent careers before signing on to VShojo, as per The Outer Haven.

By 2022, VShojo secured $11 million in seed funding by Anthos Capital. As per Tubefilter, Ignacio focused on growing talent in a statement after the announcement, and said,

“VTubers are the future of the content creator industry. Since the medium is built upon animated personas, it is more accessible and scalable than being a traditional creator, especially as the technology becomes more widespread. With the funding from Anthos Capital, we are now in a better position to support and grow talent in this market with more innovative technology, extensive promotion, and the ability to assist with content creation and distribution.”

That same year, VShojo announced that it was expanding to Japan, with Japanese VTuber kson signing on to the company’s ‘Next’ campaign, noted Crunchyroll News.

VShojo’s Ironmouse became the first VTuber to win the Creator of the Year award at The Game Awards 2023. She also took the Best VTuber award at the Streamer Awards that same year, repeating the win in 2024 as well. Ironmouse also placed third on the list of most popular female streamers by hours watched in 2024, as per Streams Charts.

Allegations of financial mismanagement at VShojo

In July 2025, one of VShojo’s most popular talent, Ironmouse made a surprising announcement on her YouTube channel. Alleging that she was owed a significant amount of unpaid dues by the talent agency, she revealed that the $500,000 she helped raise for the Immune Deficiency Foundation as part of a record breaking subathon remained unpaid to the charity even after a year.

Appearing on a YouTube video, Ironmouse shared that she has broken all ties with VShojo. She said,

“With the information that I currently I have, I believe that I am owed a significant amount of funds which I have not been paid. And most importantly, the thing that hurts me the most is that the Immune Deficiency Foundation, which is the most important charity to me and also the reason why I’m here today, is owed over half a million dollars from VShojo.”

Continuing, Ironmouse added,

“I know this is a lot, and it’s really important for me to be honest with you. I really want to tell you everything, but unfortunately for now, I have been instructed by my attorney to wait for more of the legal procedure to unfold.”

any artists/musicians that worked with me through vshojo and never got paid please contact me asap so i can get you paid. im so sorry.

— ironmouse🇵🇷😈💖 (@ironmouse) July 22, 2025

Ironmouse’s revelations led to many VShojo VTubers revealing that they were exiting the agency as well, with some also alleging that they too were not paid their dues. Projekt Melody, AmaLee, Kuro and Kson were among the talents that quit VShojo.

During a stream, Nyatasha Nyanners revealed that she was also not paid for many of her streams  by her agency. She spoke about undergoing a swatting incident and not being paid for the concerned stream as well. As per Dexerto, Nyanners said,

“I went through all that, but at least I’ll get paid. Wouldn’t you know it, one of the many things they failed to pay me for over the course of literal years was that stream. The one that I got swatted during. It felt like a kick in the deepest part of my gut. Words cannot even describe how angry I was… I trusted them to be able to make good on payments.”

Eventually, GunRun Ignacio announced that VShojo was shutting down. Taking to X, the CEO took complete responsibility of the financial crisis at the company, and wrote,

“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.”

Ignacio also claimed that despite raising money through funding, VShojo’s talent-first approach was not able to sustain itself in the long run. He also hinted at funding raised for a charity being “spent by the company,” but failed to provide any other information on the company’s finances.