Cupcake Digital, a developer of enhanced e-book apps sold through the major app distributors, has purchased zuuka, developer of the iStorytime library app featuring narrated children’s storybooks. The combined company, which will operate under the Cupcake Digital name, has a library of 200 titles, many of them licensed, and a collective track record of 8.5 million downloads.
“It’s the story of two compatible and like-minded entities,” says Amory Millard, Cupcake Digital’s executive v-p of brand and business development. “We share a number of licensors in common, and we’re looking to reach out to the companies we work with at Cupcake Digital to put their content on iStorytime, as well as work with the iStorytime licensors to do more freestanding product.”
Graham Farrar and Woody Sears, who founded zuuka in 2009, will stay with Cupcake Digital, overseeing iStorytime and serving as part of the combined company’s management team.
“The app library that Cupcake Digital now represents is something to be reckoned with,” Millard says. “We’re hoping to be a wonderful one-stop shop for IP holders with top-quality, wholesome product, be it from publishing, TV, or movies.”
Licenses held by Cupcake Digital, which was founded in 2012, include Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!, Jim Henson’s Fraggle Rock, Strawberry Shortcake, VeggieTales, Yo Gabba Gabba!, Animal Planet, The Smurfs, Sid the Science Kid, Barney, Mike the Knight, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Puss in Boots, How To Train Your Dragon, Madagascar, Shrek, and Kung Fu Panda.
