Animaj

Animaj is a media company that builds and operates children's entertainment franchises using a digital-first, AI-assisted model. Its portfolio includes acquired preschool properties such as Pocoyo and Maya the Bee, alongside newly originated IP. The company states it reaches more than 240 million children monthly, generates more than 22 billion YouTube views per year, counts 243 million YouTube subscribers across its channels, has recorded more than 100 million mobile app downloads, and has received more than 45 industry awards.

The business combines content ownership with proprietary tooling developed at "Animaj Lab," where creators, engineers and researchers work together. Three pillars are described: Audience Intelligence™, an analytics system that processes signals from the global Made-for-Kids ecosystem (analyzing 1.5 million Made-for-Kids videos, mapping visuals, audio, characters, narrative structure, pacing, editing and music) to identify trends and white spaces; creator-directed AI production tools including Sketch-to-Motion™ and PoseBind™; and "Distribution by Design," designing multi-platform distribution across YouTube, streaming, apps, music and consumer products from the outset of each franchise.

Animaj positions itself as a hybrid between an animation technology company and an IP owner: because it owns the underlying children's brands, it can monetize content produced with its own software. Cartoon Brew reported it had become the fifth-largest digital kids' player worldwide on YouTube per Tubular Labs data, with Pocoyo distributed across more than 100 platforms including Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, Spotify and FAST channels.

Founding story

Animaj was founded in May 2022 by serial entrepreneur Sixte de Vauplane and former Google/YouTube executive Grégory Dray, with the stated aim of filling a need for enriching, high-quality children's content in an increasingly digital, fast-paced world.

Business model

Animaj acquires and develops children's IP, produces content for it using in-house AI-assisted animation pipelines, and distributes it across multiple platforms. Because it owns the underlying franchises, it monetizes output created with its own tools rather than licensing the tools alone. Monetization channels described include YouTube, streaming services, mobile apps, music, consumer products, and advertising and brand partnerships via Lumee, a platform launched with Hasbro.

Revenue derives from monetizing owned children's franchises across YouTube, streaming platforms, mobile apps, music and consumer products, and from digital advertising and brand partnerships through the Lumee platform.

Traction

Reported metrics include more than 22 billion YouTube views per year, 243 million YouTube subscribers, more than 240 million unique child viewers per month, more than 100 million mobile app downloads and more than 45 industry awards. Pocoyo, relaunched on YouTube after acquisition, is distributed across more than 100 platforms including Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, Spotify and FAST channels.

Latest developments

Company news items report the co-development of Ozzy Fox with Disney Jr. and a behind-the-scenes account of its AI-assisted creation (July 2026), the expansion of the Lumee portfolio through a Disney Advertising agreement (2026), a SIGGRAPH 2026 research paper and an open-sourced AI motion in-betweening method (AIS), engineering work integrating Rust into its Python ML stack, and the appointment of Olivier Dumont to the board of directors in August 2026 as the company shifted focus toward originating new digital-first IP.