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).
The popular online gaming platform for kids, Roblox, is reportedly expanding its offerings into the educational space. Ayal Shmilovich, managing partner at Gerber Kawasaki Wealth Investment Management, joined Cheddar to provide some insight into the report from the Wall Street Journal and how Roblox plans to incorporate the metaverse concept into schools. "I definitely think it helps them expand their market to a much broader audience," Shmilovich added. He also noted that Minecraft has 35 million users on its educational platform and was even more optimistic about Roblox's prospects.
President Biden is under some pressure from members of his own party over rising gas prices. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has called for the president to utilize oil reserves to lower gas prices ahead of the holiday season, as gas prices are currently at a seven-year high. Energy Workforce & Technology Council CEO Leslie Beyer joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Roblox is getting into education. The gaming platform is investing $10 million into developing educational video games for middle schools, high schools, and colleges across the country. This marks the first time Roblox is putting money into developing games for the platform, and it comes as Roblox also plans to build a stake in the metaverse. Sarah Needleman, technology reporter for The Wall Street Journal, breaks it all down for Cheddar.
Russia is being blamed for putting the International Space Station and its crew at risk after it fired a missile during a weapons test at a non-functional satellite. NASA has said that the debris from the explosion could potentially orbit the Earth for decades.
The collaboration platform Slack is launching a massive revamp at its annual customer conference, aimed at creating a more flexible and connected work experience. CEO and co-founder Stewart Butterfield joined Cheddar to provide some additional details about the digital HQ upgrade.
Bob Sutor, the chief quantum exponent at IBM, joined Cheddar to break down what the tech giant's new 127 qubit quantum processor, dubbed Eagle, will mean for computing. "We've broken through the way to scale these quantum devices to be bigger and bigger and therefore to be more useful," he explained. According to Sutor, quantum computing breakthroughs will provide faster or entirely novel solutions to complex, real-world problems in medicine, the creation of new materials, and even optimizing financial services.
