Thomas Benski, former CEO and co-founder of Gangs of London producer Pulse Films, has announced new venture Lumina, based in London, New York, Paris and Los Angeles.
The new company is being billed as a “well-capitalized media group led by talent and IP,” backed by an initial funding round in the mid-eight figures, with investors including Magnus Rausing’s BFK, Charles Dorfman’s Dorfman Media Holdings and SVS Holdings.
“Today’s media landscape is evolving and we believe this is the ideal time to build forward-looking companies. Based on our rich past experiences, we build the present to shape the future,” says Benski.
“With content at the heart of everything today, I strongly believe that talent, brands and IP are the multipliers. Our thesis is that there is a great opportunity to decouple the process of IP creation by building studios and production companies around great talent,” he said.
This will help them own more of their work and build sustainable businesses that remove unnecessary and expensive layers in the process of creating IP. With capital and strategic input, we believe in today’s decentralized United Artist model,” he said.
Lumina is already working with Oman Sy and Louis Leterrier for its new European studio, Carrousel Studios led by CEO Cecile Gaget, and Yann Demange’s Wayward Films (‘71, Great boy).
In Kids and Family, it has backed award-winning gaming studio Creators Corp (2023 WEBBY winner) and Bafta-winning Kids IP company Strike.
It has also invested in consumer brands such as Metier and DAACI and has just completed their largest investment to date in a globally recognized activewear brand to be announced soon.
Lumina has also launched a new multidisciplinary film studio, Magna Studios, led by Marisa Clifford and Davud Karbassioun, which has scaled very quickly with projects in production across Branded, Documentaries and Scripted.
Sy, co-founder of Carrousel, one of Lumina’s businesses, said: “At the heart of this partnership, Louis, Thomas and I saw a great opportunity in building an ambitious, talent-driven company that can leverage current market dynamics. Lumina & Thomas bring not only capital, but also a strategic and operational approach that provides artists like us with the resources and expertise to hit the road and realize our ambitions at a time when talent is too often not at the table to benefit from the long term of a project. success.”
The Lumina release said the company’s approach would combine financial investment and the resources of a global studio, and be strategically organized into four verticals: talent-driven studios, production, kids and family, and consumer.
It added that its investment strategy would leverage an extensive investor network and expertise in creativity and storytelling, combining these strengths with robust financial backing, operational discipline and an entrepreneurial track record.
Furthermore, by self-financing film and TV projects, Lumina and its partners could achieve greater creative and financial autonomy, helping them shape ventures with bold, innovative vision and valuable intellectual property.
Benski leverages his experience to build Pulse into a world-leading multidisciplinary studio that has garnered critical acclaim for all its output and achieved significant scale.
Pulse had more than $150 million in revenue and more than 150 employees by the time Benski and Clifford left in 2021. Their previous projects include Gangs of London (Air/AMC), Beastie Boys story (Apple), PIG (Neon), The disappearance of Madeleine McCann (Netflix) and Lewis Capaldi: How I feel now (Netflix).
In an ambitious projection, the company said it aimed to be profitable in its first year of operation, generate sales of more than $55 million across the group, and had already started production of its first IP and long-term projects that will be delivered early next year. years and will be announced soon.
Lumina has also secured funding for an IP war chest that will enable the production of a number of high-end film and TV projects across its group companies in the coming years.
Magnus Rausing of BFK, one of Lumina’s investors, said: “Lumina’s collective knowledge of investing and running businesses makes them the ideal platform for pioneering a new approach that supports talent in both creating and owning of valuable intellectual property, while driving innovation within its companies – in creative, imaginative ways. strategic and technological. I was looking for a vehicle to build a media and entertainment footprint and Lumina is absolutely the right platform given its inventive model, so I’m happy to help it become a defining player in the ecosystem.”
Charles Dorfman, CEO of Dorfman Media Holdings, said the investment was also based on his belief in Benski, his team and their track record.
“We have known Thomas and his team for a long time, watched them build a great business at Pulse and were naturally excited to support his new venture. I have full confidence in their ability to identify exciting opportunities in the media, entertainment and consumer sectors, especially as the media industry as a whole enters a new phase of development,” he said.
Marie Savare and PJ van Sandwijk, co-founders of SVS Holding, added: “We believe that Lumina’s strategic model, which combines talent-driven content creation with a venture capital-backed business framework, represents the future of media and entertainment.
