When we think of the Indian IT boom in the late '90s, our minds naturally drift to the tech corridors of Bangalore with giants like Wipro, IBM and Infosys. Yet, in 1999, the quiet, strategic efforts of a few visionary entrepreneurs in Kerala led to the birth of Toonz Media Group. What started as an ambitious idea sparked by a single L.A. Times article has quietly evolved into a global entertainment empire.
Toonz Media Group was the brainchild of Mr. Goplala Achutha "G. A" Menon. The Swiss-based Chandaria family funded the project. They were the founders of the multi-billion-dollar Comcraft Group. Menon had the mandate to open an animation studio anywhere in Southeast Asia. Driven by a deep patriotism for his home state, he chose Kerala. To run the finances, he brought on P. Jayakumar as the Chief Financial Officer who took a massive risk, leaving his secure government job at the Kerala Water Authority to join a company that didn't even physically exist yet.
Fast forward 26 years Toonz has evolved into a global entertainment powerhouse operating 11 global offices spanning from Los Angeles and London to Auckland and Quebec backed by a 3,000+ strong team of diverse professionals delivering content across six continents.
For startups and founders in the Kerala Product Hunt community, the Toonz journey is a masterclass in visionary leadership, strategic pivots, and building a business with a soul.
The Technopark Genesis & The $20 Million Bet
While cities like Bangalore were the playground for traditional IT services, Menon recognized Trivandrum’s Technopark as a state-of-the-art facility that could house a world-class studio. But there was a massive hurdle while Kerala had a rich history of artistic capabilities, our local talent lacked international exposure.
Under Menon's backing, the company didn't just rely on the cost arbitrage of Indian labor. They made an aggressive, capital-intensive bet on talent incubation:
They brought in around 75 foreign experts from countries like the Philippines, Canada, Australia, and Korea to lead the studio and train local artists.
For the first two years, P. Jayakumar was the only Indian in the senior management team.
This training initiative cost an estimated $20 million in the first two to three years.
Beyond internal training, Toonz recognized the need to build a broader creative ecosystem. In 1999, the very year they were founded, they launched a not-for-profit initiative initially called "Week with the Masters" (now the Animation Masters Summit). This annual event brought the greatest global minds in media, animation, and gaming to Trivandrum, giving young local professionals and upcoming artists a rare platform to interact with and learn from international legends.
When the animation industry began to boom and rival studios started poaching their talent, Jayakumar formalized this training into the Toonz Academy. This strategic move turned a massive expense into a revenue stream, guaranteeing Toonz the "cream of the crop" for their own production while supplying highly skilled artists to the rest of the country.
A Tragic Loss & The Strategic Pivot
In 2001, just two years into the journey, G.A. Menon tragically passed away on a flight from Singapore to the US. The investors asked P. Jayakumar to step up from CFO to CEO a role he would hold for the next 25 years.
Under Jayakumar’s leadership, the company made a massive pivot. Recognizing that the real wealth in entertainment lies in owning Intellectual Property (IP) rather than just doing service work, he took a monumental risk:
- The 3D Shift: Observing the shift initiated by Pixar, Jayakumar transitioned a vast majority of the workforce from 2D to 3D CGI animation, capitalizing on India's natural affinity for IT and computers.
The Adventures of Tenali Raman (2002): Built on a budget of roughly ₹6 crores, it was the first animated 2D series with an Indian thematic vision. Broadcast on Cartoon Network, its success proved that local stories could be highly profitable. Even today, decades later, the licensing rights can be continuously resold.
Return of Hanuman (2006) : Co-produced with Percept Pictures and directed by Anurag Kashyap achieved a significant commercial success.
While pioneering Indian IP, Toonz simultaneously set the bar for international family entertainment. Their production studios forged envious co-production partnerships to create some of the world's most highly-rated shows. They teamed up with Marvel for Wolverine and The X-Men, Lionsgate for Speed Racer, the Next Generation, Universal for Mostly Ghostly, and Google for Gummibear & Friends. By consistently innovating, they reached a staggering output of over 1,000 minutes of animated content per year.
Jayakumar understood that animation has a massive shelf life. A live-action show might age out, but an animated series is continually "new" for every subsequent generation of kids, turning IP into highly lucrative digital real estate.
The Global Expansion
As Toonz scaled, they hit a geographical ceiling. Lucrative markets like Canada and Europe enforce strict broadcast quotas, mandating that up to 65% of content must be locally produced.
To bypass this, Jayakumar executed brilliant cross-border acquisitions:
Production in Ireland: Toonz acquired a majority stake in Telegael, an Irish post-production house. This allowed Toonz to produce "local" European content while benefiting from the Irish government's 40% cash-back incentive.
Distribution in Spain: Tired of losing up to 30% of revenue to third-party distribution fees, Toonz acquired Imira Entertainment, a top distributor for the Spanish and Latin American markets.
These moves transformed Toonz into a 360-degree studio capable of developing, financing, producing, and distributing content globally.
The Digital Age
In 2013, recognizing the early potential of digital streaming, Toonz pivoted hard into YouTube launching their first channel, Chotoonz TV.
The results were explosive:
Chotoonz TV rapidly grew to 12–14 million subscribers with an audience spanning 200 countries.
At its peak, the channel generated $250,000 to $300,000 per month in pure, free cash flow by simply re-monetizing their massive back-catalog of over 2,000 hours of content.
To ensure brand safety and overcome YouTube's lack of curation, they eventually launched their own OTT platform, My Toonz, creating a safe, age-appropriate environment for kids.
Beyond the Balance Sheet
Beyond the impressive acquisitions and IP catalogues, the true secret to Toonz's longevity lies in the philosophies of its leaders:
G.A. Menon believed in Generational Social Engineering. He believed wealth should be used to create employment in Kerala. By hiring artists from economically disadvantaged backgrounds Toonz didn't just give someone a job but permanently altered the economic trajectory of their entire family.
With the Indian government now pushing the "Make in India" initiative, the blueprint laid out by G.A. Menon and executed by P. Jayakumar two decades ago is more relevant than ever.
They didn't just build a company; they engineered a foundational pillar of India's creative economy, right from the heart of Kerala.
Watch the whole podcast on YouTube
https://youtu.be/tv-nWimcsT8?si=94FcCa8e8fsevXhT
