By Khalifa Hemed
Published July 10, 2021

Joy Mwangi, CEO of Ada AnimationAda Animation has announced its pre-seed capital raise from a Nigerian venture capital firm.

The company, that says it produces content in 2D and 3D Animation, Motion Graphics, White board animation, VFX, Content Creation, Character Design, Voice Overs, Infographics, Animation’s training, and upskilling with head office in Nairobi and subsidiary offices in London, Lagos, and Johannesburg, says the funds from Nigeria’s Platform Capital, will be used in supporting the company’s growth ambitions to hire great talent, create African content, and further develop its proprietary technology.

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“We are incredibly proud of our partnership with Unicorn Group, a Platform Capital company,” says Joy Mwangi, CEO of Ada Animation. “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. We see huge potential for Ada Animation content on millions of screens worldwide. The world will watch movies made from our imagination and will visualize color and creativity born from our culture. We look forward to showcasing to the international community that there is a massive animation market opportunity in Africa for investment and scale through our work, talent and programs. The timing is so critical for us as we have started producing our first animation movie set for a global release next year.”

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Dr Akintoye Akindele, Chairman of the Unicorn Group through which Platform Capital has channelled the funds to Ada Animation, says: “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. It is about time we fabricated and developed a platform that encourages and supports young creatives on the continent to be at the epicenter of telling African stories. We are optimistic about the development of creative talent and growth of homegrown platforms that will spur international companies’ partnerships in boosting the animation industry.”

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This funding comes soon after the company partnered with Kenya Film Commission (KFC) to launch an animation summit and the second season of Ada Animation boot camp that is touted as the largest nationwide training programme in the sector.

Founded in 2020 out of the desire to build capacity in the animation industry, tell animated African stories and catalyse the animation industry for growth, Ada Animation’s advisory board comprises Dean Lyon, Director at Splinter Studios; Jack Giarraputo, Co-Founder at Happy Madison Productions; Firdaus Kharas, CEO at Chocolate Moose; and Joann Yarrow, Executive Director at LIVE Animation Studios. As part of Platform’s investment, Dr. Akintoye Akindele, Chairman of Platform Capital will join the board.