Ada Animation, an entertainment tech company, has announced its pre-seed capital raise from Nigerian venture capital firm Platform Capital through its technology firm Unicorn Group. The investment is set to elevate entertainment companies in Africa as potential partners in the VC investments realm.
Founded in 2020, Ada Animation was born out of the desire to build capacity in the animation industry, tell animated African stories and catalyze the animation industry for growth.
Ada Animation will use the secured investment to support the company’s growth ambitions to hire great talent, create African content, and develop its proprietary technology. The company is supported by a strong advisory board of Dean Lyon, Director at Splinter Studios, Jack Giarraputo, Co-Founder at Happy Madison Productions, Firdaus Kharas at CEO at Chocolate Moose and Joann Yarrow, an Executive Director at LIVE Animation Studios. As part of Platform’s investment, Dr. Akintoye Akindele, Chairman of Platform Capital will join the board.
Commenting on the 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 ramp up our efforts to attract top talent in animation production to join our journey. Ada Animation is at the forefront of animation industry on the continent, changing the way we represent our content to produce more than we consume and share our stories from our perspectives.”
Also speaking of the funding, Dr. Akintoye Akindele, Chairman 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 inception to add value into the animation creatives sector in Africa. We see this as an opportunity to build a dynamic animation industry for the youth.”
The funding comes after the company’s recent partnership with Kenya Film Commission (KFC) to launch an animation summit. The second season of Ada Animation boot camp will be the largest nationwide training program in the sector.