The company Gutsy Animations co-founded in 2016 by Marika Makaroff has secured a round table of new investors including Moomin Characters LtdOy - run by the Moomins creator Tove Jansson’s family - as well as Bulls Holding AB, parent company of Bulls Press and Rights and Brands.

Both companies are taking minority stakes in Gutsy, alongside other private investors.

Gutsy Animation is mostly well-known for the Moominvalley animated series directed and co-written by Academy Award-winner Steve Box (Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit) for Yle and Sky in the UK. 

The two first seasons will be available on DVD and digital copy in the Nordic countries in December 2020, and at a later stage on SF Studios’ SVOD platform SF KIDS in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. NRK Super in Norway will launch season 1 September 23. 

Roleff Kråkström, CEO of Moomin Characters Ltd Oy said: “Gutsy Animations is a great fit to our cultural ecosystem which has been developed around Moomin Characters over the years. The award-winning Moominvalley is naturally one of our greatest interests but we are also looking to develop a co-operational model which would be able to scale to the authors, illustrators and other IP owners that we represent in the competitive market. Gutsy Animations’ top team complement our skills and knowledge beautifully." 

Marika Makaroff, CEO and Creative Director at Gutsy Animations added: “We are very grateful to have the support of our fantastic partners and visionary investors especially at a very exciting moment of growth, creativity and ambition for the company. Our slate has broadened to include both high quality drama and charming original animation. This exemplifies Gutsy approach and focus on bold, female-led work which draws on the magic and mythology of the natural world to challenge and inspire viewers across generations.”

Gutsy’s venture into non-kids scripted include the psycho thriller series Beyond Nature, written/directed by Paavo Westerberg (The Violin Player), first introduced to the international market at London’s C21 Drama Series Pitch last year. The series will use the thriller genre to explore mental health issues and female empowerment.