For Release: 9th February 2017
Beans Entertainment (Beans), the developer of Bean&Gone , a new interactive brand that delivers shared engagement experiences for children across digital and physical media formats, today announced that it has secured £300,000 of seed investment raising its valuation to £1.3m.
The funding comes from a number of investors including; Charles Smith (the COO of Shoezone), Shirish Patel (retired Deloitte Partner), Ashley Cooper (Catalyst Growth Partners), Nick Pendleton (former Head of Royal Mail Ventures), Saracen Ventures, and Smart Anchor Capital .
Beans CEO & Co-Founder Dan Clemo says. "We’re thrilled to have secured this funding from such prominent investors whom I know will add significant value to our business beyond their cash investment. The new funds will provide us with the necessary operating cash flow to launch Bean&Gone after nearly 3 years of creative design and character building. We’re also planning to hire a number of new employees to help with technical and commercial development”.
Beans Entertainment based in Cardiff was co-founded by Dan Clemo and Jason Veal, who also founded the prominent creative branding agency Sugar Creative Studio. Beans Entertainment Ltd was launched with the aim of building a global evergreen brand franchise, one that emulates the long lasting success of Thomas the Tank Engine, Mr. Men and other well-known children’s characters.
The company has already acquired the worldwide rights to the bean shaped characters first created by British illustrator Richard Fowler in the 1970s, and which provided the inspiration for Bean&Gone.
A new interactive website has also been built in preparation for the launch, which includes company history, activity sheets, and a product store.
Charles Smith commented, “I’m pleased to have become a shareholder in such a dynamic young company like Beans. The founders are a truly gifted set of creative individuals who have a collective global vision to build a brand that future generations will grow up with and love”.
Shirish Patel says. “The decision to invest in Beans was quite simple once I’d met Dan and Jason. Their backstory is compelling as is the potential for making Bean&Gone a brand that has lasting appeal to children around the world”.
“Beans has progressed significantly in the last 12 months and is already attracting the attention of an number of potential strategic partners who are interested in collaborating on Bean&Gone. As new shareholders, Smart Anchor Capital are excited to see what the future holds for the company considering the size of the opportunity that lies ahead”, said Mark Hindmarsh.
As well as the new funding, Beans are in dialogue with a number of well known media entertainment sector parties that will help accelerate brand awareness of Bean&Gone and the company expects to make further announcements prior to the formal launch planned for Summer 2017.
The Beans Entertainment investment process was facilitated and managed by Smart Anchor Ventures with legal support provided by Capital Law.
Additional information on Bean&Gone can be found at: www.beanandgone.land
Press & Media enquiries please contact:
Dan Clemo – CEO & Co-Founder of Beans Entertainment LtdEmail: dan@beanandgone.land Tel: +44 (0) 7525 636977
Ray Willmott - Community Manager and Marketing Assistant Email: rayw@beanandgone.land
