HarbourView Equity Partners, Polarity and the Steward Family are investing $30 million in Lion Forge Entertainment, one of North America’s “few larger-scale Black-owned entertainment studios,” according to the announcement in The Hollywood Reporter on September 9, 2025. Lion Forge is the studio behind the Oscar-winning animated short “Hair Love” and the critically acclaimed HBO Max/Cartoon Network series IYANU, one of the top children’s shows on both networks and was recently renewed for a second season.
Lion Forge Animation was founded in 2019 by technology billionaire David Steward‘s son, David Steward II, whose family owns the media firm Polarity. It was rebranded as Lion Forge Entertainment in 2023. Lion Forge aims to create more stories with authentic, diverse voices in animated and live-action content for all ages. The news of the HarbourView-led $30 million investment in the company was announced two years after Bloomberg first reported that Lion Forge aimed to raise $50 million to boost its efforts to create racially diverse film and TV content.
In July 2023, Lion Forge and Nickelodeon Animation announced a multi-year first-look deal for “kids and family IP across animated series, features, short-form and digital content,” according to the NickALive!website, and “may bring select Nickelodeon and Paramount IP to Lion Forge to develop and produce.” The deal also allowed Lion Forge to “co-finance certain projects the company brings to Nickelodeon, as well as serve as the animation studio on select Nickelodeon projects.”
Thus far, the Lion Forge and Nickelodeon deal has resulted in multiple in-development projects, including Born Driven, a story based on the first Black NASCAR driver, Wendell Scott, Iron Dragon, an original IP created by Jay Kim at South Korea’s Mostapes Studio and Lion Forge, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom in partnership with Simon & Schuster, and Marley and The Family Band, an animated series based on Bob Marley‘s daughter Cedella Marley‘s picture book of the same title, which will be co-produced by Polygram Entertainment and Tuff Gong Collective. Additionally, the studio has partnered with Penguin Young Readers, a division of Penguin Random House, to adapt children’s books into series and recently collaborated with Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin to develop an adult animated feature based on his novella A Dozen Tough Jobs.
Following HarbourView’s investment, Polarity and the Steward Family will retain majority ownership of the studio.
HarbourView CEO Sherrese Clarke said, “We believe that content has the extraordinary power to influence the world. This is a unique moment in the kids and family space and Lion Forge is seizing an opportunity to lean into its ability to tell compelling stories authentically and cultivate global franchises at scale. This synchronizes with our vision of how the next generation of multiplatform media companies can grow – by introducing fresh images, ideas and paradigms that reflect the evolving world in which we live and creating culturally authentic and socially relevant content.”
HarbourView was established in 2021 by Sheresse Clarke, the former CEO of Tempo Music, with backing from Apollo Global Management. The news of the equity firm’s investment arrives three months after it led an $85 million investment in the Paris-based kids and family-focused entertainment company Animaj, which “acquires and scales high-potential IPs by using data-driven insights, automating animation pipelines through AI.” And the Animaj deal came a week after HarbourView secured $500 million in debt financing from private equity giant KKR through a private securitization, and a little over a year after the company secured an additional $500 million in debt financing, also through KKR.
HarbourView’s investment in Lion Forge furthers the firm’s “goal of investing in high-end production aimed for audiences who are underrepresented in the vast expanse of media,” reports Variety.
“Sherrese is a trailblazing investor, leading a culture-driving company. Her knowledge and track record will be immensely additive as we continue to scale our company and properties,” Steward said. “This is a validating moment for our young company. The synergy between the shrewd investment strategy of HarbourView and the franchise-building blueprint at Lion Forge will enable us collectively to optimize opportunities at the nexus of entertainment, culture and content and grow into a category-defining leader from a position of strength.”
Stephanie Sperber, President and Chief Creative Officer of Lion Forge, said, “We work with incredible creators and exceptional IP, and the backing of HarbourView will allow us to develop and invest in expanding our library. Sherese and her team see what we see – an opportunity in the marketplace for premium kids, family and YA franchises, which motivates us to double down on what we believe we do best – create global content and build franchises.”
Source: Lion Forge Entertainment, The Hollywood Reporter, Music Business Worldwide
