Moonbug, a London-based children’s entertainment company, announced that it has raised $145 million in Series A funding led by The Raine Group. Felix Capital and Fertitta Capital also participated in this round.
Moonbug was founded by René Rechtman (CEO) and John Robson. Rechtman used to be the head of non-linear media networks at The Walt Disney Company and joined the company through the company’s acquisition of Maker Studios — which is where he worked as the president of international. And Robson previously worked as the managing director of Wildbrain and served in executive roles at HTC and Paramount Pictures.
“There are so many brilliant creators around the world developing quality content that children love. There is so much potential to develop these franchises further through a 360-degree approach to offer a media environment that guarantees age-appropriate video content propagating healthy values,” said Rechtman in a statement. “The Raine Group’s track record of investing in media companies and helping to grow them into market leaders makes them the ideal partner to help us build a portfolio of kid-focused media properties with long-term entertainment value.”
This funding news comes on the heels of Moonbug’s first IP acquisition earlier this year: Little Baby Bum. Here is an example of a Little Baby Bum video:
Little Baby Bum is one of the most popular channels on YouTube, Amazon, and Netflix with more than 23 billion global views. With this funding round, Moonbug will be acquiring additional kid-friendly media properties.
“As the children’s content market evolves and viewing habits move to digital platforms, Moonbug is well-positioned to address this increasingly global opportunity,” added Raine partner and head of Europe, Middle East and Africa Jason Schretter. “René and the rest of the Moonbug team have a deep understanding of the media landscape and an insightful, long-term vision for building next-generation kids’ content. We believe in partnering with teams that will disrupt and transform industries and Moonbug is poised to do exactly that.”
