HarbourView Fairness Companions is main an $85 million funding in Animaj, a youngsters and household content-focused leisure firm.
Animaj makes use of proprietary GenAI manufacturing instruments and what it calls a “multi-platform franchise-building mannequin”.
The Paris-headquartered firm says that it “acquires and scales high-potential IPs by utilizing data-driven insights, automating animation pipelines via AI,” after which distributing that content material to platforms like YouTube, Roblox, TikTok, Spotify.
Animaj reviews to have a month-to-month world viewers of 242 million distinctive viewers on YouTube, and claims to draw the “fifth-largest digital youngsters’ viewers globally”.
HarbourView has invested within the firm alongside French nationwide funding fund Bpifrance.
The spherical was additionally joined by Bpifrance, Left Lane Capital, Daphni, XANGE, and Marquee.
New debt financing was supplied by J.P. Morgan and Bootstrap Europe, bringing the whole capital infusion to $85 million.
In keeping with a press launch, the brand new funding can be used to scale Animaj’s “AI-powered flywheel mannequin” – which it describes as a “digital-first, multi-platform ecosystem spanning YouTube, Roblox, TikTok, Spotify, and FAST channels.”
The brand new capital will even “speed up strategic IP acquisitions,” following Animaj’s buy of the Pocoyo youngsters leisure model in 2023.
“With confirmed monetization, an skilled staff, and a robust pipeline of strategic IP alternatives, they’re poised to turn into a category-defining chief.”
Sherrese Clarke, HarbourView
“Animaj is reimagining kids’s leisure for the digital age,” stated Sherrese Clarke, Founder and CEO of HarbourView Fairness Companions.
“With confirmed monetization, an skilled staff, and a robust pipeline of strategic IP alternatives, they’re poised to turn into a category-defining chief. We’re thrilled to associate with the Animaj staff as they scale globally.”
“Animaj is a brand new type of media firm: data-driven, AI-powered, digital-first however multiplatform by design.”
Sixte de Vauplane, Animaj
Sixte de Vauplane, Animaj Co-Founder & CEO, added: “We’re constructing one thing that’s by no means existed earlier than. Animaj is a brand new type of media firm: data-driven, AI-powered, digital-first however multiplatform by design.
“We don’t begin with a TV present and hope youngsters will come. We begin with the place they already are – YouTube, Roblox, TikTok, Spotify – and we construct from there.”
“We’re delighted to announce Bpifrance’s strategic funding in Animaj, a pioneering participant in the usage of AI for audiovisual manufacturing.”
José Gonzalo, Bpifrance
José Gonzalo, Govt Director, Bpifrance Direct Funding, stated: “We’re delighted to announce Bpifrance’s strategic funding in Animaj, a pioneering participant in the usage of AI for audiovisual manufacturing.
“Its co-founders, Sixte de Vauplane and Grégory Dray, carry an progressive method that locations AI on the core of their worth proposition, with a robust deal with editorial high quality and the objective of making high-quality, instructional youngsters & household’s content material.
“We firmly consider of their imaginative and prescient and stay up for supporting the corporate’s development and future success.”
The funding provides to HarbourView’s rising portfolio of media and IP property, which spans movie, tv, music, and content material corporations equivalent to Mucho Mas Media and MACRO.
Established in 2021 by former Tempo Music CEO Sherrese Clarke with backing from Apollo International Administration, HarbourView Fairness Companions has acquired over 70 music catalogs encompassing over 35,000 songs throughout each grasp recordings and publishing revenue streams.
Earlier this month the corporate secured $500 million in further debt financing from funding large KKR, secured through a personal securitization backed by its music portfolio.
This newest transaction follows a earlier $500 million in debt financing secured by HarbourView in March 2024, via a personal securitization backed by its catalog of music royalties, and led by KKR.
The corporate’s portfolio consists of music from T-Ache, James Fauntleroy, George Benson, Noel Zancanella, Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie, Pat Benatar, Neil Giraldo, Nelly, Jeremih, Wiz Khalifa, Kane Brown, Full Drive and extra.
HarbourView reviews to have amassed roughly $2.67 billion in regulatory property beneath administration.Music Enterprise Worldwide
