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Today at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, Nimble Collective, the first animation platform to democratize the animation industry by bringing it to the cloud, and Toon Boom Animation, developers of the world's leading storyboarding and animation software, announced a new partnership that will drive innovation through accessibility in the global animation market. Working together, Nimble Collective and Toon Boom Animation are bringing Toon Boom's industry-standard digital solutions to Nimble's cloud-based production platform giving studios, animation production teams of all sizes, and educational training facilities the power to achieve world-class storytelling at lower costs and with shorter production times - as overhead costs can consume as much as 40 percent of a production budget.
The partnership between Nimble Collective (nimblecollective.com) and Toon Boom Animation (toonboom.com) is perfectly timed to meet surging global needs for animated content. Powered by demand for original content from Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu the total value of the global animation industry is estimated to be $254B (as of 2017) and is projected to reach $270B by 2020. On a recent Q3 2017 earnings call with analysts, Netflix announced that they will be investing $8B original content in 2018, and a significant portion of this investment will be dedicated to animation. Additionally, social media platforms and tech companies are also getting into the content game (see: Facebook Watch, YouTube Red, Apple).
According to Francisco Del Cueto, co-president and chief technology officer at Toon Boom Animation,"These SVOD and social media platforms are seeking to create original content for regional audiences who want to see their cultural stories told and the Nimble-Toon Boom partnership will empower artists everywhere to produce this work in Toon Boom's global-standard animation software. The demand is fuelling opportunities for animation studios to be established and expanded in emerging markets like Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and many more. It also allows local populations in emerging markets to benefit from and contribute to the global animation industry, creating long-term career opportunities and driving cultural and economic growth."
Founded in 2014 by industry veterans from DreamWorks and Pixar, Nimble Collective offers animation production teams an entire cloud-based animation studio infrastructure including workstations, professional workflow, storage, and more, all accessible via browser. Staffed by a team of expert creators, Nimble Collective empowers animation teams to get more work done faster, at better quality, and with lower costs.
"By partnering with Nimble, Toon Boom Animation is ensuring our industry-standard tools are more accessible than ever," says Francisco Del Cueto. "Now, any artist or company can access our products directly from the cloud; with this technology, setting up a workstation or an entire studio can be done in a matter of minutes."
"Nimble Collective is on a mission to democratize the animation industry by empowering people worldwide with the best animation production tools, and Toon Boom Animation is an ideal partner to help us make further progress toward that goal," said Rex Grignon, co-founder and CEO, Nimble Collective. "The world is full of people who are often underrepresented in mainstream entertainment who are eager to see the stories of their cultures reflected on screen, and animation is a universally popular and powerful medium for storytelling. Animation is becoming accessible to all thanks to the availability of paperless, digital solutions like Toon Boom Animation software, which can be downloaded anywhere and produce high-quality work on-time and on-budget with minimal training."
About Toon Boom Animation, Inc.
Toon Boom Animation Inc's award-winning software is the global standard for animation and storyboarding. Toon Boom Animation solutions provide everyone from enthusiasts to professionals with the artistic freedom to create in any style and efficiently publish anywhere. Customers include Disney Television Animation, Amazon, Fox Television Animation, Nelvana, Ubisoft, Toei Animation, The SPA Studios, Xilam and Boulder Media. Toon Boom technology is available in Japanese, Simplified Chinese and Spanish. For more information, visit: toonboom.com.
About Nimble Collective
Founded in 2014 by Academy Award-winning animators and technology entrepreneurs, Nimble Collective, is revolutionizing the animation content market by offering studio-level capabilities without the costly infrastructure. With all the production capabilities of the animation pipeline hosted in a secure cloud environment, animators and their collaborators, wherever they are in the world, are able to spend more time creating instead of managing complex and expensive infrastructure. With Nimble Collective, studios can spend more time creating, and save up to 75% less on overhead. Nimble Collective is the brainchild of animators Rex Grignon (Toy Story, Madagascar, and founding head of character animation at DreamWorks), Jason Schleifer (Lord of the Rings, Megamind) and Scott LaFleur (How to Train Your Dragon, Megamind). Learn more at NimbleCollective.com.
For more information (press only):
Toon Boom Animation Inc.
George Stamatakos
gstamatakos[.]toonboom.com
Director, Marketing
+1 514 762-3880
Nimble Collective
Juliet Travis
juliet[.]liftoffcommunications.com
Liftoff Communications
+1 510 612-9622
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dmastriaco[.]toonboom.com 
