Mindshow Raises $ 10 Million to Expand Proprietary CG Studio; Sharon Bordas appointed president

Mindshow, the Los Angeles-based computer graphics animation production company built on proprietary software, has raised millions in funding and has announced Sharon Bordas as its new president, along with several new executive hires.

Led by SWaN and Legend Venture Partners, Mindshow raised $ 10 million in funding to further invest in the company's CG animation technology, expand its content pipeline, and bring animation projects to market much faster. The fundraiser was also attended by Sugar23, the emerging management and creative production platform founded in 2017 by Oscar-winning manager-producer Michael Sugar.

Mindshow has now raised over $ 25 million in total, which has been invested in developing the company's proprietary animation technology that combines cutting-edge video game technology, visual effects and machine learning. The software allows Mindshow to quickly produce high quality CG content. Their most recent project was a 30-episode season for Mattel's Enchantimals toy line - the company delivered the final content in just four months, all while working remotely during the coronavirus pandemic.

"We are excited about what the Mindshow team has accomplished over the past year, even more so in light of the challenges 2020 has brought to us all," said Fred Schaufeld, co-founder of SWaN & Legend, who is also owner of Washington Capitals, Washington Nationals and Washington Wizards. "We couldn't be more excited about what will happen in this next chapter of the company's growth."

Mindshow CEO Gil Baron also announced the promotion of Sharon Bordas from studio head to chairman of Mindshow, and several key hires including Jason Reisig as global director of animation, Michael McGahey as head of creative development, and Grace Buehler as head. of the staff.

“Over the past year, with Sharon at the helm, we've built a world-class content team and used our technology to bring more fun, creativity and amazing awe into the 3D animation space,” said Baron. "Working with world-class partners to help define the future and shape the content that is made is a dream come true."

Sharon Bordas (President) has over 20 years of entertainment industry experience as a writer, producer, executive and entrepreneur. Bordas is a longtime advocate of female directors and diversity in content, and was most recently VP of programming for the screenwritten series at Lifetime Television, and before that a founder / EVP at Mar Vista Entertainment, a film and television studio. supported by VC.

Jason Reisig (Global Director of Animation) brings over 25 years of animation experience to Mindshow, formerly co-director of Warner Bros Animation, as well as head of character animation and chair of department at DreamWorks Animation, where he directed the productions of animation for Shrek Forever After e Homeand supervised for Kung Fu Panda, Kung Fu Panda 3 e Troll, among others. He received a SciTech Award from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences while leading the interaction design of Premo, DreamWork's proprietary animation software. It is animated by Oscar-winning feature films Shrek e Spider-Man 2, the former was nominated for an individual Annie Award. Reisig is also a tenured professor of animation at USC.

Michael McGahey(Head of Creative Development) experience includes series, TV movies, feature films and animation. As an executive at Deep River Productions, he began the campaign to get Little Miss Sunshine in production and helped develop the Big Momma's House franchising. At Disney, he developed Lab Rats, Kickin 'It, Wander Over Yonder, Emmy Award winner Mickey mouse shorts e Star against the forces of evil, among other series and films. It was an EP Rebel for BET with legendary director John Singleton, and was a film and series EP for Nickelodeon and Netflix, respectively.

Grace Buehler (Chief of Staff) spent six and a half years working in internship and backlot operations at NBCUniversal as an operations representative on NBC productions, including Champions, Law & Order: True Crime e The good place. Eager to explore the world of virtual reality, Buehler moved to Magnopus and from there she was recruited by Netflix to join their studio operations team. There he managed operations for Netflix productions at three of Netflix's masters rented at Los Angeles studios, serving in productions including Ryan Murphy's. Hollywood, Boys in the Band and numerous Netflix productions for children and families.

Founded in 2016, Mindshow started out as a consumer-facing app with the aim of making animation creation accessible to all. The app's launch led to an Emmy nomination for interactive media and the launch of professional content creation in 2020. Its debut project as a CG animation production group, Mattel's Enchantimals, has amassed over 81 million views on YouTube. The studio has several projects in development yet to be announced.

www.mindshow.com