Following the deal, the UK-based animation and VFX studio plans to expand staff to more than 600 by end of 2022.
Private equity house Key Capital Partners (KCP) has completed a minority investment in Jellyfish Pictures, a high-quality animation and VFX studio whose clients include Netflix, DreamWorks, Apple TV, HBO, Sky, BBC, and Amazon.
Jellyfish Pictures announced KCP’s investment earlier this week. In a press release, the company said the move comes at a time when “its pipeline of confirmed work [is] standing at an unprecedented level,” and that it “will expedite the global scaling of Jellyfish’s VFX and animation teams, and advance the development and production of its original kids and family content through Jellyfish Originals.”
Jellyfish was an early, pre-pandemic pioneer of remote work, utilizing virtual studios and advanced, centralized, secure technology that allowed the company to break away from the traditional studio model. The company is headquartered in Brixton, London, and has another studio based in Sheffield.
Company founder and CEO Phil Dobree has spent the past two decades expanding the company’s international reach. He now has the support of newly appointed KCP non-executive director, Philip Duquenoy, and the investment deal will help him to grow Jellyfish to more than 600 staff members in 2022.
“We are delighted to have KCP on board for the next stage of Jellyfish’s ambitious journey,” Dobree said in a statement. “We have seen an unprecedented demand for our services over the last year and this investment allows us to accelerate the company’s growth, providing our clients and partners with the technical and creative resources to continue to bring compelling, award-winning work to the screen.”
“This is an exciting time for the creative TV and film industry in the UK and we are thrilled to be working with such an innovative business to enable even greater growth,” Duquenoy added.
Jellyfish’s VFX credits include the latest addition to Lucasfilm’s Star Wars franchise The Book of Boba Fett, as well as blockbuster movies such as Solo: A Star Wars Story, The Last Jedi, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and Kingsman, The Secret Service. TV Drama credits include BBC’s This is Going to Hurt, Gangs of London (Sky), Amazon Prime’s Hanna, HBO’s Watchmen, The Innocents and Black Mirror: Hated in the Nation for Netflix. The company has also worked on a large number of award-winning event factual shows for both The BBC, Discovery, Apple TV and many others.
In Animation, Jellyfish is currently partnered with Netflix working on a highly anticipated Roald Dahl animated event series. This follows Jellyfish’s credits for high-end CG animation, working with DreamWorks Animation on feature film Spirit: Untamed; the animated special How to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming; and several series of top-rated children’s shows, Dennis and Gnasher: Unleashed (CBBC), Floogals (Universal Kids) and Bitz & Bob (Cbeebies).
This marks the third investment KCP has made over the last nine months. The investment was led for KCP by Duquenoy, James Hall, and Matt Tice. Legal advice was provided to KCP by Addleshaw Goddard, RSM provided financial and tax due diligence services, and commercial due diligence was performed by FTI. Jellyfish were advised by JEGI CLARITY and Waterfront.
Source: Jellyfish Pictures
Max Weinstein is a writer and editor based in Los Angeles. He is the Editor-at-Large of 'Dread Central' and former Editorial Director of 'MovieMaker.' His work has been featured in 'Cineaste,' 'Fangoria,' 'Playboy,' 'Vice,' and 'The Week.'
