Ada Animation, an entertainment technology company of the Ada Labs Africa group of companies, has announced its initial capital increase of Nigerian venture capital firm Platform Capital through its technology vehicle, Unicorn Group.
This investment is the first of its kind in East Africa and is intended to elevate entertainment companies in Africa as potential partners in the venture capital investment arena.
The move is designed to open up exciting animation opportunities and grow Ada Animation in Africa; Unicorn Group appoints Dr. Akindele to join the board.
Founded in 2020, Ada Animation was born out of a desire to build capacities in the animation industry, tell animated African stories, and catalyze the growth of the animation industry.
Ada Animation will use the secured investment to support the company’s growth ambitions of hiring great talent, creating African content, and further developing its proprietary technology.
Ada Animation is supported by a strong advisory board from Dean lyon, Director of Splinter Studios; Jack Giarraputo, Co-founder of Happy Madison Productions; Firdaus Kharas in CEO of Chocolate Moose; Joann Yarrow in Executive Director at LIVE Animation Studios.
As part of Platform’s investment, Dr. Akintoye Akindele, President of Platform Capital will join the board.
Speaking of investment, Joy Mwangi, CEO of Ada Animation said: “We are incredibly proud of our partnership with Unicorn Group, a Platform Capital company.
“This strategic investment represents an important step in our growth as a company, we will immediately increase our efforts to attract the best talents in animation production to join our journey.
“Ada Animation is at the forefront of the animation industry on the continent, changing the way we represent our content to produce more of what we consume and share our stories from our perspectives.
“We see great potential for Ada Animation content on millions of screens around the world.
“The world will see films created with our imagination and will visualize the color and creativity that are born of our culture ”.
“We look forward to showing the international community that there is a great opportunity in the animation market in Africa to invest and scale through our work, talent and programs.
“Timing is very important to us as we begin to produce our first animated film which will be released globally next year. ”Mwangi concluded.
Dr. Akintoye Akindele, President of the Unicorn Group explained “We are excited about our partnership with Ada Animation.
“We have seen how passionate and committed they have been since their inception to add value to the animation creative sector in Africa.
“We see this as an opportunity to build a dynamic animation industry for young people. It is high time we manufactured and developed a platform that encourages and supports the continent’s young creatives to be at the epicenter of African storytelling.
“We are optimistic about the development of creative talent and the growth of local platforms that will stimulate international business associations to boost the animation industry ”.
The funding comes shortly after the company’s recent partnership with the Kenya Film Commission (KFC) to launch an animation summit and the second season of the Ada Animation boot camp, which will be the industry’s largest national training program.
