iWorld
Vistas Media Capital acquires majority stake in Paperboat Design Studios
Mumbai: Singapore-based media and entertainment-related investments company Vistas Media Capital (VMC) on Wednesday announced the acquisition of a majority stake in Paperboat Design Studios, an animation and design company based out of India, for an undisclosed amount. The studio, with more than 250 full-time employees across offices in Mumbai and Hyderabad, will help stride VMC’s growing media ecosystem that spans across film and video content, NFT, gaming and metaverse, said the statement.
The move reflects VMC’s ongoing commitment to expand its value chain of media, entertainment, and related technologies. This deal comes at the heels of a newly announced film project between Golden Ratio Films (GRF) – a wholly-owned subsidiary of VMC and US-based production company Appian Way Productions last month.
“Paperboat is a team of passionate, talented, and creative people, with a proven track record in animation and VFX. We welcome them to the Vistas eco-system and hope to have a synergistic relationship to grow the business beyond India across content, gaming, and metaverse,” stated Vistas Media Capital group CEO Abhayanand Singh.
Established over a decade ago, Paperboat Design Studios has created animation and design work and produced the live-action films for a diverse clientele. The studio also offers VFX and CGI services through its majorly owned subsidiary Occult Studios, based out of Mumbai. Some of the major clients of Paperboat and Occult include Disney India, Discovery Kids, McCann, World Bank, Coca Cola, Cadburys, Nestle, Burger King, and Reebok.
“We are extremely excited about being a part of Vistas Media Capital as it gives us an opportunity to explore exponential growth across genres and markets,” said Paperboat Design Studios CEO and co-founder Soumitra Ranade. “The capital infused will be used to expand the team, create original IPs, and cross synergise other verticals with them. The business and its offerings are at an inflection point of a massive explosion in the post COVID world, across digital and traditional media.”
Paperboat has worked on several popular television series including “Bandbudh Aur Budbak” and “Fukrey Boyzz.” The studio also worked on the 2D animated feature film “Bombay Rose,” which premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2019 and was the first Indian animation to open for the Venice Film Critics’ Week.
Currently, Paperboat is working on two international animation projects – “Bhrigu And The Palace of Mirrors,” based on the book with the same name, and “Kabuliwala,” based on the classic short story by Nobel prize laureate Rabindranath Tagore.
iWorld
Epic Company launches unified Epic Studio for films and OTT
Vivek Krishnani to head films business; Samar Khan leads OTT & Television.
MUMBAI: Epic just merged its creative superheroes under one cape because when films and OTT need to fight for attention together, you don’t keep them in separate universes. The Epic Company has launched Epic Studio, a next-generation creative and production powerhouse that unites Juggernaut Productions and Movieverse Studio under a single banner. The move creates a streamlined, scalable platform for premium storytelling across theatrical films, OTT originals, television, digital-first formats and branded content.
Vivek Krishnani has been appointed chief executive officer, Epic Studio (Films), overseeing the theatrical and film business with a focus on culturally resonant narratives across Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Gujarati and Malayalam cinema. Samar Khan continues as chief executive officer, Epic Studio (OTT & Television) and retains his role as chief content officer for Docubay and Epic On.
The Epic Company managing director Aditya Pittie said, “Epic Studio brings together our entire creative ecosystem under one unified studio vision. This is not just an integration of verticals, but the creation of a collaborative environment where writers, filmmakers, creators, and brand partners can seamlessly develop and scale stories across formats and screens.”
Vivek Krishnani added, “We are building an audience-focused mainstream film studio committed to delivering fresh, engaging, and innovative stories for both theatrical and streaming platforms.”
Samar Khan commented, “This alignment allows us to approach storytelling with a unified studio mindset. We are building IP under one creative umbrella, with scale and longevity in mind from inception.”
The unified structure eliminates silos, enabling ideas to flow fluidly from concept to screen while adapting to evolving audience behaviour. Epic Studio positions itself as a creator-led ecosystem championing purposeful, resonant storytelling with commercial strength.
In an entertainment landscape where stories now leap between screens faster than plot twists, Epic isn’t just building a studio, it’s crafting a single launchpad where every tale gets the best shot at soaring across every platform.
