Supercharging Canary Island animation studio Anima Kitchen, VFX giant DNEG has acquired the Canary Islands’ Anima Kitchent.
The operation is backed by the support of the state-owned Spanish Society for Technological Transformation (SETT), a sovereign venture capital fund which has invested €24.9 million ($28.8 million) in Anima Kitchent. The joint investment, which sees both entities becoming Anima Kitchent shareholders, will be channelled via DNEG’s ReDefine Originals, an animation studio and creative incubator.
Established in the Canary Islands’ Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in 2017 and run by CEO Angel Molinero with Ariana Villalobos as operations manager, Anima Kitchent has grown from just a staff of a dozen workers to a current 170, thanks to banner shows such as pre-school “Cleo & Cuquín,” “Lea & Pop” and “Cuquín” for Warner. Bros. Discovery. The company is also renown for leveraging YouTube, where it has over 67 million subscribers, in order to launch and consolidate IPs.
The objective of DNEG and SETT investment is to take Anima Kitchent to the next level, creating 275 new jobs, “developing and producing original features of great quality, creating long-term value through their IP,” Spain’s Ministry for Digital Transformation and Public Function has announced.
