Equity investor throws its weight behind animation and visual effects studio

Private Equity house, Key Capital Partners (KCP), has completed a minority investment into Sheffield and London-based animation studio Jellyfish Pictures.

Jellyfish provides animation, visual effects (VFX) and art department services to media corporations around the world.

Its clients include Disney+, Netflix, DreamWorks, Apple TV, HBO, Sky, BBC and Amazon. The business has worked on a slate of well-known productions such as three Star Wars films and drama series such as Black Mirror and The Book of Boba Fett.

KCP’s investment will accelerate 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.

The company’s HQ is in a facility in Brixton, London, with a further studio in Sheffield. The KCP deal will help the company grow to more than 600 staff in 2022.

Continuing as Jellyfish CEO, Phil Dobree is backed by an experienced executive team, supplemented by the appointment of Lynton Barker as non-executive chairman and Philip Duquenoy of KCP as non-executive director.

The investment was led for KCP by Duquenoy, James Hall and Matt Tice.

Dobree said: “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.”

Duquenoy said: “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.”

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 was advised by JEGI CLARITY and Waterfront.

This will be KCP’s third investment in the last nine months. It makes equity investments into growth businesses and has bases in Leeds and London.

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