\n
The wins keep coming for Lion Forge Entertainment.<\/p>\n
Less than two weeks after the first feature film adaptation of its critically acclaimed top-rated animated youth series \u201cIyanu\u201d premiered on HBO Max, HarbourView Equity Partners announced it will be leading a $30 million investment in the award-winning studio.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a validating moment for our young company,\u201d said Lion Forge founder and CEO David Steward II, a St. Louis native.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said the combined strengths of HarbourView and Lion Forge will \u201cenable us collectively to optimize\u00a0opportunities at the nexus of entertainment, culture and content\u201d and become a leader in the industry.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/aside>\nHarbourView is an alternative asset management company that invests in the business worlds of music, entertainment, media and sports. It acquires and manages assets and businesses, with a focus on intellectual property.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/aside>\nWith about $2.67 billion in regulatory assets under management, HarbourView says its resources strengthen its ability to fund and own intellectual property.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a unique moment in the kids and family space, and Lion Forge is seizing an opportunity to lean into its ability to tell compelling stories authentically and cultivate global franchises at scale,\u201d said HarbourView Founder and CEO Sherrese Clarke. \u201cThis [investment] synchronizes with our vision of how the next generation of multiplatform media companies can grow \u2014 by introducing fresh images, ideas and paradigms that reflect the evolving world in which we live.\u201d<\/p>\n
The investment was facilitated by Participant Capital. Although HarbourView is the lead investor, the Steward family and its media company, Polarity, will keep majority ownership of Lion Forge Entertainment.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/aside>\nLion Forge, one of the few large-scale Black-owned production companies in North America, develops and produces animated and live action content targeting kids and family, young adult and adult audiences. It is building on the success of earlier Lion Forge Animation projects, including the Oscar-winning short \u201cHair Love,\u201d and remaining committed to its mission of delivering genuine, diverse stories.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe that content has the extraordinary power to influence the world,\u201d Clarke said.<\/p>\n
Lion Forge\u2019s content pipeline has surged in the last few years. The studio\u2019s latest series\u00a0\u201cIyanu\u201d\u00a0has become a breakout cross-platform success on HBO Max and Cartoon Network, debuting as the No. 1 series among kids on Cartoon Network and is a Top 10 Kids & Family series on HBO Max. Season 2 of the epic animated fantasy series, along with two feature films expanding its universe, have just been greenlit by Cartoon Network and HBO Max.<\/p>\n
They have a multi-year first-look deal with Nickelodeon covering animated series and features that has resulted in multiple projects in development, including\u00a0the \u201cMarley & The Family Band\u201d\u00a0series, in partnership with the Bob Marley Estate;\u00a0\u201cChicka Chicka Boom Boom,\u201d\u00a0in partnership with Simon & Schuster; and\u00a0 \u201cIron Dragon,\u201d\u00a0in partnership with Mostapes. Additional strategic partnerships include an alliance with Penguin Young Readers, a division of Penguin Random House, to develop series and features based on select children\u2019s books.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/aside>\nLion Forge also recently joined forces with George R. R. Martin (\u201cGame of Thrones\u201d) to adapt the renowned novella,\u00a0\u201cA Dozen Tough Jobs,\u201d\u00a0into an adult animated feature film; set a partnership with TalesVision to expand its short-form YouTube sensation, \u201cLostlings,\u201d\u00a0into a premium long-form series; entered into a first-look deal with Oware to identify and develop global kids and family and young adult content; and is working with Rebel Girls to develop unscripted content around Rebel Girls Sports.<\/p>\n
Established in 2021, HarbourView Equity Partners has built a distinctly diverse portfolio featuring thousands of titles spanning numerous genres, eras and artists. \u201cSherrese is a trailblazing investor, leading a culture-driving company,\u201d Steward said. \u201cHer knowledge and track record will be immensely additive as we continue to scale our company and properties.\u201d<\/p>\n
The firm uses data and strategic insights to generate strong returns while working closely with the creative industry.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The company has acquired over 70 music catalogs encompassing over 35,000 songs across both master recordings and publishing income streams.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe work with incredible creators and exceptional IP, and the backing of HarbourView will allow us to develop and invest in expanding our library,\u201d said Stephanie Sperber, president and chief creative officer of Lion Forge. \u201cSherese and her team see what we see \u2014 an opportunity in the marketplace for premium kids, family and YA franchises, which motivates us to double down on what we believe we do best \u2014 create global content and build franchises.\u201d<\/p>\n
Related<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.stlamerican.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The wins keep coming for Lion Forge Entertainment. Less than two weeks after the first feature film adaptation of its critically acclaimed top-rated animated youth series \u201cIyanu\u201d premiered on HBO Max, HarbourView Equity Partners announced it will be leading a $30 million investment in the award-winning studio. \u201cThis is a validating moment for our young […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2044337,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2044336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Lion-Forge-Entertainment-scores-30M-investment-following-Iyanu-success.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2044336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2044336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2044336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2044337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2044336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2044336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2044336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}