Baobab Studios

Baobab Studios is an independent animation studio headquartered in Redwood City, California, that develops original story worlds and expands existing franchises across film, streaming series, games, and publishing. Founded in 2015, the studio began with story- and character-driven cinematic virtual reality and interactive narrative work and has since broadened into premium features and series, Roblox and other games, graphic novels and book series.

Its catalogue includes the interactive narratives "Invasion!", "Asteroids!", "Crow: The Legend", "Bonfire", "Jack", "Paper Birds", "Baba Yaga" and "Namoo", the VR title "Galactic Catch", the "Momoguro" franchise (TV show, digital collectable game and multiple Roblox titles such as Ninja Parkour, Stunt Simulator, Snap Together, Beast Mode, Find All Breads, Obby But You're A Ragdoll and Momo Quest), the TV series projects "Intercats" and "The Witchverse", and book properties including "The Magic Paintbrush" series and "Art of Baobab". Projects have featured voice talent including Oprah Winfrey, John Legend, Kate Winslet, Daisy Ridley, Glenn Close, Jennifer Hudson, Ethan Hawke and Lupita Nyong'o.

The studio positions itself at the intersection of animation, gaming and technology, combining feature-animation storytelling craft with interactive game mechanics, and works with publishing and streaming partners including Macmillan's First Second Books, Penguin Random House, Disney+ and Webtoon.

Founding story

Baobab Studios was founded in 2015 by Maureen Fan, previously VP of Games at Zynga, where she oversaw six studios including the original FarmVille franchise and helped lead the company through its IPO, and Eric Darnell, director and screenwriter of the Madagascar franchise and DreamWorks' "Antz". Larry Cutler, formerly a Pixar technical director, DreamWorks Animation's Global Head of Character Technology and VP of Solutions at Metanautix, is also a co-founder and serves as CTO.

Business model

Baobab creates and owns original intellectual property and develops it across multiple formats — theatrical features, streaming series, interactive narratives, Roblox and other games, graphic novels and book series — retaining rights and licensing or co-developing with partners such as Disney, Disney+, Webtoon, First Second Books/Macmillan, Penguin Random House and Roth/Kirsch. It also acquires rights to third-party game IP for animated adaptation.

Traction

Seven released titles have won 10 Emmy Awards (including four Best Interactive Emmys) and two Annie Awards. The Roblox portfolio comprises more than 10 titles with over 100 million visits. "Namoo" was shortlisted for an Oscar, won an Annie Award and received an Emmy nomination.

Latest developments

In August 2026 Baobab announced a strategic investment from Naver Ventures, the U.S. venture arm of Naver Corporation, described by Variety as a seven-figure up-round valuing the studio above its previous round. The first project under the new slate is "Shine" (working title), an original fantasy adventure co-created by Erick Oh and Madeleine Rosca, developed with Webtoon as a digital webcomic and with First Second Books as a print graphic novel, with Baobab retaining film, TV, streaming and gaming rights. The studio is also in development with Disney+ on "Witchverse" and is adapting "Intercats" and "The Magic Paintbrush" as feature films.