Lion Forge Entertainment has secured a US$30-million minority investment from HarbourView Equity Partners that will help the studio develop and produce more kids & family and YA projects. 

Focusing on telling diverse stories, Lion Forge is currently developing a series adaptation of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom with Simon & Schuster for Nickelodeon. This New York Times best-selling kids book from 1989 teaches kids the alphabet through a rhyming story. 

The project is part of a first-look deal that Lion Forge signed with Nickelodeon in 2023. Under this deal, the company is also developing comedy/adventure series Iron Dragon with South Korea’s Mostapes and Marley & The Family Band with the Bob Marley estate. 

Lion Forge has another partnership in place with Penguin Young Readers to develop series and features based on select children’s books from its publishing catalogue. 

The studio’s biggest success to date is Iyanu (pictured), which debuted as the number-one series among kids on Cartoon Network and a top-10 kids & family series on HBO Max, according to Lion Forge. Cartoon Network and HBO Max both renewed the toon for a second season. 

Notably, this is the second investment that HarbourView has made in a kids media company recently. In June, it invested US$85 million to help France’s Animaj integrate AI into its pipeline.