The company was founded in May by Gen Fukunaga and his wife Cindy in Silicon Valley , with funding by Daniel Cocanougher and his family, who became investors in the company. The company also releases titles on home video either directly [ 11 ] or by having select anime titles released through its distribution partners Sentai Filmworks , Viz Media , Discotek Media , and its corporate sibling, Aniplex of America in North America; Anime Limited in the United Kingdom.
In the early s, 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, , as Funimation Productions. Cheese in the Galaxy , the company's first non-anime product.
In May , 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! Following the success of the 4Kids deal, Funimation entered into a strategic partnership with the Canadian-based Nelvana on September 26, In July , 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.
