Genius Brands Launching Kids Programming 'With a Purpose'
*By Bridgette Webb*
Kids' programmer Genius Brands just secured $4.5 million in new funding, but the CEO is already fixing his gaze on Disney.
"Disney is the giant gorilla in that space," CEO Andy Heyward said Wednesday in an interview on Cheddar.
Heyward said the new funding, [announced](https://www.gnusbrands.com/news-media/press-releases/detail/993/genius-brands-international-raises-4-5-million-in-funding) Wednesday and led by Robert Wolf, former CEO of UBS Americas and founder of 32 Ventures, will be used to push the company's new animated series, "Rainbow Rangers," which will debut November 5 on Nick Jr.
"We have tried to create a niche, which is what we call content with a purpose," he said. "Every program that we bring forth has to have some enrichment to it and some value other than just the entertainment alone."
Genius already has 20 licensing partners lined up for "Rainbow Rangers" and 300 merchandise products in the making, including toys, dolls, school supplies, and clothing.
The funding news arrives as competition in the kids entertainment space accelerates. The media industry has been hit with a wave of M&A activity this year, with AT&T snapping up Time Warner and Disney purchasing the assets of 21st Century Fox.
Heyward believes the ripple effect of those acquisitions will reshape the whole industry, but he isn't rushing to join the fray ー at least not immediately.
"We're not in the position where we are going to sell the company today ー at some point, we may," he said.
For more on this story, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/genius-brand-rakes-in-4-5-million-to-boost-new-animated-series).
As Russia intensifies its war on Ukraine, President Biden announced a ban on oil imported from the aggressor nation. Critics of Russia have said this would be the best way to force Putin to pull back, but curbs on Russian oil exports are expected to send already skyrocketing oil and gas prices even higher, further impacting consumers, businesses, financial markets, and the global economy. Leslie Beyer, CEO of the Energy Workforce and Technology Council, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss. "It's certainly going to increase pricing, but it is the right thing to do," she said. "The industry itself has already pulled out of the significant portion of its operations in Russia."
Two friends have joined forces to come up with an app dedicated to making mental health more approachable and to provide users with the tools needed to improve their mental health and overall well-being. Co-Founders of the Dial App Jonah Salita and Marcel Johnson, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
On this International Women’s Day, Deb Cupp, president of Microsoft U.S., joined Cheddar News to talk about the implementation of her pillars to extend the company's culture, such as acting with care and putting the team first. "What I like about the pillars is they're very simple, so it's easy for us to think about how they show up every day in our lives," Cupp said.
The growth of the metaverse is bringing new challenges to managing safe, diverse communities. Helping Cheddar kick off Women's History Month, Tiffany Xingyu Wang, chief marketing officer for AI-powered content moderation company Spectrum Labs, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss how platforms can help create safer, more inclusive online communities in the metaverse and about her own experience as a woman in technology. "Trust is really the new digital transformation, and it should not be a siloed task solely belonging to chief security officers, to privacy officers, or the people who were given the task of trust and safety," she said. "It should be a priority for all the C suite and a whole company to rally around."
