Graphic India announced today that it closed a new seed-financing round of $2.8 million. The new financing round was led by existing investor, CA Media LP, the Asian investment arm of The Chernin Group, LLC (TCG), and New York City based media investment group, Start Media, founded by Michael Maher. The new round also included prominent angel investors, such as Backflip Studios founders, Julian Farrior and Dale Thoms.
Similar to how America created superheroes and Japan invented anime, Graphic India is seeking out India’s creativity to launch a range of characters and mythic heroes for glocal audiences. This will mainly be on smartphones and tablets.
“The next Steven Spielberg, JK Rowling, Stan Lee or Miyazaki exists somewhere in India, ready to change the world through their stories. At Graphic, we will find these breakthrough talents and give them the resources and the digital platform to share their creativity with the world. This new financing will expand our content offering and allow us to create India’s premiere mobile platform for comics and animation – engaging and building a passionate community of superhero, sci-fi and mythology fans through Graphic’s content and characters,” commented Graphic India CEO and co-founder Sharad Devarajan.
Over the next few months, Graphic India will unveil a number of digital products and apps in India to build direct engagement with the growing community of passionate comic book and animation fans in the country. The new digital offering will release hundreds of free digital comics and digital videos in English, Hindi, Tamil and other local Indian languages.
“We have always believed in the immense potential of Graphic India. An amalgamation of talent and creativity, the characters, heroes and stories from Graphic India, tap into the unique ingenuity and culture of India, but appeal to audiences worldwide. With smart phones increasingly becoming the preferred medium of entertainment for the youth and the ever increasing consumer reach of mobiles in India, the move towards expanding their offering and creating content for smart phones and tablets will give them with a significant boost and enthuse the next generation of comic buffs,” commented Chernin Asia Media Group COO Rajesh Kamat.
Founded in January 2013, by media entrepreneurs Sharad Devarajan, Gotham Chopra and Suresh Seetharaman, Graphic India had previously raised $2.5 Million in initial seed financing from CA Media.
Since its launch, Graphic locked up licensing deals and content partnerships with Cartoon Network, Rovio, YouTube, Mandalay, Lionsgate and others to license its digital comics and characters into television and film.
“Graphic continues to execute its plan to create globally commercial intellectual property and to use it to overcome barriers to new markets both in India and elsewhere around the globe. We at Start Media are pleased to be a part of Graphic’s continued and rapid growth.” added Start Media CEO founder Michael Maher.
Graphic’s character, Chakra The Invincible, created with Stan Lee (co-creator of Spider-Man, X-Men, Iron Man and The Avengers), launched from a digital web series to a number of animated movies for Cartoon Network India. The web series was selected as a limited number of shows to launch through the Angry Birds app on Rovio’s ToonsTV. The company recently announced plans to work with Lee and his POW! Entertainment on producing the character as Lee’s first Bollywood live action film.
Graphic’s digital series, 18 Days, a reinvention of the eastern epic myth, The Mahabharata, was reinvented by Batman writer Grant Morrison.
Beyond digital video, a number of Graphic’s digital comics and projects have also been licensed into theatrical live action film deals for Hollywood, with Ramayan 3392AD in development with Mandalay Pictures; The Sadhu in development with Mark Canton (producer of the 300 films); The Leaves in development at Lionsgate; and Titans in development with J Michael Straczynski (screenwriter of Thor, World War Z) and Chernin Entertainment (producer of the Planet of The Apes films).
