Niche consumer & licensed products investment firm IVEST Consumer Products has acquired Cloudco — the company that owns classic brands such as Care Bears, Holly Hobbie and Madballs as well as newer animation properties like Buddy Thunderstruck and Boy Girl Cat Dog Mouse Cheese — in a reported $100 million deal.
The Canadian purchaser says it is betting especially on Care Bears’ established appeal, particularly as the new Barbie movie takes the box office by storm and spurs a major consumer products boost for the Mattel brand.
“For us to be able to buy [Care Bears] is a rare opportunity,” IVEST co-Founder and Managing Partner George Jones told PE Hub. “This is one that has been around for 40 years. It’s one of the best-selling properties in retail. Usually what happens with a property like this, it goes on the market, and it’s snapped up by entertainment companies or toy companies and they pay a lot for it.”
The Weiss family, who sold the Care Bears IP to Cloudco in 2018, spinning the brand off of its original company American Greetings, and Cloudco management did not want to go with a larger toy or entertainment buyer that would simply subsume their brand into its existing operations, Jones noted. The exec also pointed out that IVEST had relevant experience, having already picked up collectibles brand Entertainment Earth and plush toy co. Dan Dee.
IVEST plans to monetize new and existing Cloudco brands with a focus on Care Bears, as well as developing new content and IP, as well as acquisitions and licensing. Jones tells PE Hub that Cloudco will be a platform from which IVEST can explore their list of potential properties to pick up.
Introduced in 1982 as greeting card illustrations, the Care Bears have experienced several relaunches over the years, updating their look and message for new generations. Which these have come multiple animated iterations, starting with 1983’s 2D-animated television special The Care Bears in the Land without Feelings, through the original Care Bears series (1985-88) and The Care Bears Movie (1985) produced in Nelvana, which spawned two sequels before the end of the decade. The 2002 revamp introduced CGI version of the characters in three more Nelvana films (2004, 2005 and 2007). A new musical CGI series, Care Bears: Welcome to Care-a-Lot (produced by MoonScoop) debuted in 2012, followed by a continuation on Netflix in 2015.
Most recently, the characters appear in 2D series Care Bears: Unlock the Magic, produced by Cloudco and Copernicus Studios. The show launched on Boomerang in 2019 and continues to bring sharing, caring, music and magic to screens around the globe.
