Digital Entertainment Startup Kinsane Raises $2.5 Mn In Angel Funding

Kinsane Entertainment Inc, a global digital entertainment company has raised $2.5 Mn funding from an undisclosed consortium of angel investors. Kinsane Entertainment, Inc., is a US corporation, and it operates in India through its subsidiary, Kinsane Digital LLP.

Co-founded by Kurt Inderbitzin, Indrani Pillai and Saahil Bhargava and angel funded by Neeraj Bhargava and other investors, Kinsane is a ‘digital first’ company that creates fun and captivating content for kids aged 2-11 years in numerous languages. It then distributes that content globally through a variety of advertising, subscription and transaction-based revenue models.

Kinsane basically creates interesting gaming characters and educational and entertaining content around them.  Kids can view these amazing characters, laugh and sing with them and even interact with them in games, live action, and animated shows, augmented reality and audio books. It then moves to a wider market comprising film, television, concerts, VR/AR – original programming and merchandising that captivates kids.

With the new funding round, Kinsane plans to launch over 8 new shows and 100 games featuring 30 new and compelling characters over the next 12 months. The core target markets for this content are the US, Europe, India, Brazil, and China.

With its teams spread across Los Angeles, New York, and Mumbai, Kinsane aims to create a wide variety of videos and games featuring endearing and original characters that become global, iconic brands.

Neeraj believes that there has been seen a major disruption globally in the digital media space. Television viewing is gradually declining and content consumption is being revolutionised. According to a parent survey conducted by DHX/IPSOS, 72% of kids across U.S, U.K, and Canada watch content on streaming services such as YouTube and Netflix.

“The digitisation of content has made content consumption global and omnipresent. The next leader in content will almost certainly be born digital and Kinsane aspires to be the gamechanger in the kids’ content space,” he added.

According to EY’s report on the industry, growth in digital media businesses would far outpace TV, print, radio or music concerts at 26% CAGR between 2016 and 2021. Digital entertainment is a wide segment in India, influenced by players such as Gaana, Hotstar, Netflix, Amazon Prime and more.

Specifically into kid category, Viacom18’s Voot, YouTube Kids, ChuChu TV, are already leading the charts. nexGTv, a subscription-driven video entertainment app, is also running a Kids video & infotainment mobile app nexGTv Kids. The app is aimed at children between the age group of 2 to 10 years and feature nursery rhymes, fairy tales, Akbar Birbal stories, Panchtantra tales, Vikram & Betal, Ducktales, Malgudi Days, and Champak.

Another similar venture is New Delhi-based TOKO Innovation Studios which owns and operates kids entertainment portal, Imaginary. The team aims to create children’s destinations, entertainment & an ecosystem focused on emerging markets across Eurasia.

With the latest funding round, how things will roll out for Kinsane in Indian digital entertainment segment of kids remains to be seen.