Zinkia Entertainment (or simply Zinkia) is a Spanish production company located in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. Its main focus is to create animated series for TV and games, for mobile devices and for game platforms. The company has more than 100 employees and their series have been sold in more than 95 countries worldwide. Zinkia was founded in 2001 by David Cantolla López and his brother Colman López, together with José María Castillejo as a capital partner.

History

In June 2006, one of its television series, ''

Pocoyo ''Pocoyo'' ( in Spanish and stylised as ''POCOYO'') is an animated interactive preschool comedy television series created by David Cantolla, Luis Gallego, and Guillermo García Carsí, that premiered on 7 January 2005 on La 2. The series was ...

'', was awarded at the 30th International Festival of Annecy with the Cristal award for the "Best TV Series in the world" and a

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

prize in 2006. In April 2011, Zinkia acquired a 51% majority stake in UK distributor

Cake Entertainment Cake Entertainment Limited (stylised as CAKE, formerly Cake Distribution) is an independent company specialising in the production, distribution, financing and development of kids’ and family entertainment brands. About CAKE works with produc ...

. This followed on the end of the partnership the company had with ITV Global Entertainment for the ''Pocoyo'' franchise. Zinkia Entertainment launched numerous Pocoyo spin-offs and two new animated series: the Spanish-French co-production Shuriken School (2006) and the pre-school Mola Noguru (2013). After a bond issue failed, the company entered the red: in 2012 it carried out an ERE that affected a third of the workforce, and in 2013 it had to declare bankruptcy. In July 2014, Cake Entertainment's management purchased back Zinkia's 51% stake in Cake due to Zinkia's bankruptcy. Zinkia managed to overcome this crisis thanks to Pocoyo's income, both in television rights and through its official

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel. In 2016, it was acquired by the Mexican businessman Miguel Valladares, and since then it has focused exclusively on TV series animation. In May 2023, Zinkia announced the sale of the ''Pocoyo'' franchise to French investment firm Animaj SAS for an undisclosed amount. The sale would include all IP rights, distribution, and licensing to the franchise but would exclude the educational portions, which Zinkia would retain. In exchange for the deal, Zinkia would acquire a 7.99% minority stake in Animaj. The deal was closed on September 20, 2023, with the franchise transferring over to its new owners on the same day.

Works

* ''

'' (2002–2023) * ''

Shuriken School ''Shuriken School'' is a French-Spanish animated series that first aired on August 20, 2006. It was produced by Xilam Animation and Zinkia Entertainment (known for producing ''Pocoyo'') in association with France 3 and Jetix Europe. Characters ...

'' (2006–2007) (co-production with

Xilam Xilam (also known as Xilam Animation) is a French animation studio which specializes in making animated television series and feature films. Marc du Pontavice and his wife Alix founded it in 1999 as a replacement for the animation division of ...

) * ''Mola Noguru'' (2013)

References

External links

Company website
{{Animation industry in Europe Companies based in Madrid Spanish animation studios Video game companies of Spain Television production companies of Spain Spanish companies established in 2001 Video game companies established in 2001 Mass media companies established in 2001