WildBrain, the Canadian family entertainment company behind Teletubbies, Strawberry Shortcake, Yo Gabba Gabba! and Inspector Gadget, is acquiring Personality AI, a startup that builds child-safe conversational AI versions of licensed characters, in a deal worth up to $69 million.
The deal
WildBrain is paying $11 million in cash plus 1 million of its own shares upfront, with an additional $2 million due on the first anniversary of closing and up to $56 million more in performance-based payments tied to Personality AI hitting revenue targets in 2027, 2028 and 2029. Personality AI founder and CEO John Goscha is joining WildBrain's leadership team as executive vice president, reporting to CEO Josh Scherba.
Interactive AI experiences represent an important new opportunity for brands to connect with audiences in meaningful ways.
Josh Scherba, WildBrain CEO and President
What Personality AI actually does
Personality AI's best-known product is "Hey Peppa Pig," an interactive voice experience developed with Hasbro that lets children play games and talk with Peppa through Amazon Kids+ on Fire Kids tablets. Goscha said the company shares WildBrain's commitment to "rigorous safety standards" for children; the technology reportedly uses age-appropriate knowledge bases, built-in time limits, moderated interactions and does not store children's voice recordings or personal information, and it operates under the FTC-approved COPPA Safe Harbor Program.
Why WildBrain is betting on it
The acquisition gives WildBrain, which already manages global licensing and franchise operations for its character library, in-house capability to build interactive AI versions of those same characters rather than relying on outside partners. The company describes the move as adding a "safe-by-design, scalable" layer to its franchise business that can, in principle, be applied across its full roster of children's brands.
