Crunchyroll, LLC

Crunchyroll, LLC is an American entertainment company based in Coppell, Texas. It currently operates the anime-focused eponymous over-the-top subscription video on-demand streaming service.

The company was founded as Funimation in May 1994 by Gen Fukunaga and his wife Cindy in Silicon Valley, with funding by Daniel Cocanougher and his family, who became investors in the company, which then relocated to the Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan area at first North Richland Hills and later Flower Mound before moving to its current location in Coppell. Funimation was acquired by Navarre Corporation in May 2005; in April 2011, Navarre sold Funimation to a group of investors that included Fukunaga for $24 million. The company was acquired by Sony Pictures Television in 2017 and rebranded to Crunchyroll, LLC in March 2022 after acquiring the eponymous streaming service in August 2021.

The company also releases titles on home video either directly (with distribution by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment since 2024) or by having select anime titles released through its distribution partners (Sentai Filmworks, Viz Media, Discotek Media, Aniplex of America (Crunchyroll's corporate sibling) and United Kingdom's Anime Limited).

In the early 1990s, Japanese-born businessman Gen Fukunaga was approached by his uncle, Nagafumi Hori, who was working as a producer for Toei Company. Hori proposed that if Fukunaga could start a production company and raise enough money, Toei Animation would license the rights to the Dragon Ball franchise to the United States. Fukunaga met with co-worker Daniel Cocanougher, whose family owned a feed mill in Decatur, Texas, and convinced Cocanougher's family to sell their business and serve as an investor for his company.

The company was founded on May 9, 1994, as Funimation Productions. The company was originally based in Silicon Valley, but eventually relocated to North Richland Hills, Texas. They initially collaborated with other companies on Dragon Ball/Dragon Ball Z, such as BLT Productions, Ocean Studios, Pioneer and Saban Entertainment. After two aborted attempts to bring the Dragon Ball franchise to television via first-run syndication, Cartoon Network began airing Dragon Ball Z as part of its Toonami programming block in 1998, which quickly became the highest-rated show on the block and garnered a large following. The success of Dragon Ball Z is credited for allowing Funimation to acquire other licensed titles. Funimation also produced and distributed the direct-to-video movie Chuck E. Cheese in the Galaxy 5000, the company's first non-anime product.

In May 2002, the company secured its first third-party home video deal when fellow anime dubbing company 4Kids Entertainment appointed Funimation as their exclusive home video distributor in the United States. The deal included a majority of products 4Kids licensed at the time, beginning with Yu-Gi-Oh!, Cubix, Cabbage Patch Kids, Tama and Friends, and Kirby: Right Back at Ya!. The deal was later expanded to include Sonic X, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Ultraman Tiga.

Following the success of the 4Kids deal, Funimation entered into a strategic partnership with the Canadian-based Nelvana on September 26, 2003. The deal allowed the two companies to work on the production of prospective new anime, and for Funimation to distribute over forty-four titles from Nelvana's library on home video; including Redwall, Pecola, Tales from the Cryptkeeper, Timothy Goes to School and the Disney Channel TV special The Santa Claus Brothers.

In July 2004, Funimation expanded its family-friendly offerings by launching a new division entitled Our Time Family Entertainment, which provided high-quality entertainment properties to the burgeoning preschool and children's market. Products released under the division included the film Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland, several holiday specials, and select offerings from Nelvana (Elliot Moose, Marvin the Tap-Dancing Horse, Timothy Goes to School), WGBH (Arthur and the co-production Time Warp Trio), and Alliance Atlantis (Connie the Cow).