Genius Brands Raises Equity Financing to Fuel Company Growth

Genius Brands International completed a securities purchase agreement to raise $2.8 million through the issuance of Common Stock last week and signed another securities purchase agreement this week to raise an additional $5.4 million.

The company plans to use the proceeds to fund additional episodes of its hit series Rainbow Rangers. It will also apply the financing to fuel the growth of its newly announced digital network for children and families, Kartoon Channel!, which will launch in June with availability in over 100 million U.S. television households and on 200 million mobile devices.

Genius Brands’ Stan Lee’s Superhero Kindergarten, which stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, is set to debut on Amazon Prime in 2021. The company partnered with China’s Alibaba Group on the series and will use a portion of the proceeds to produce Stan Lee’s Superhero Kindergarten, as well as to pay down debt and to provide working capital.

Andy Heyward, chairman and CEO of Genius Brands, commented, “I am pleased to report that Genius Brands is in a stronger position today than ever before in its history. With last week’s announcement of Kartoon Channel!, launching on June 15 and available in over 100 million U.S. TV households and 200 million mobile devices, we have put an important stake in the ground to be one of the preeminent ad-supported kid’s digital networks. In the COVID and post-COVID environment where there are more kids at home and in front of their devices, we will be well-positioned to take advantage of that growth. We have contracted over 4,000 animated episodes of quality children’s content, much of which provide valuable lessons in these times where parents are increasingly concerned about healthy messages coming forth for kids. Kartoon Channel! will complement the launch of Rainbow Rangers’ toys from Mattel at Walmart in August. We are also forging ahead with Stan Lee’s Superhero Kindergarten, which has two sterling launch platforms with Amazon Prime in the U.S. and Alibaba’s Youku Kids in China; both are global leaders in entertainment and consumer products. While live-action production worldwide, has come to a halt and put on hiatus, animated content has become a reliable source of fresh entertainment for increasing viewer appetites. We see robust and accelerated revenue growth coming forth in this arena.”