Silicon Harbor Meets the MOONDOGs

MOONDOG Animation recently celebrated joining the Charleston community as South Carolina’s first full feature animation studio. Jericho Advisors and Silicon Harbor Magazine—who live streamed the event using Stre.am and helped introduce the MOONDOG team to the crowd—hosted the event at Jericho Arts, the onsite gallery for Jericho Advisors in Avondale. The event also celebrated MOONDOG Animation’s recent capital raise acknowledging its role in helping South Carolina’s Knowledge Economy continue to grow.

MOONDOG Animation Team – Jean-Marc Khayat (COO), Ben Davis (CTO) and Bryan Ransom (CEO) – unveil the details of their feature film animation project to the public.

The Cory Oberndorfer exhibit, Pop: Summer, complimented the playful designs that MOONDOG added to the show. MOONDOG even hosted an animation trivia game and awarded the winner with an original print of their mascot, MOONDOG. The multimedia exhibit set the scene for the creative-tech group to reveal the details of their new feature film project to the public. They were met with a number of investors, creatives, and entrepreneurs attending so they too could check out one of Silicon Harbor’s hottest new startups.

Josh Silverman, CEO of Jericho Advisors, introduces MOONDOG to the crowd.

Jericho Advisors, a full service business consulting firm, is working with MOONDOG Animation to help establish their studio here in the Lowcountry. “We are at the halfway point of raising money for their studio,” Josh Silverman, founder and CEO of Jericho, said. This is a partnership built for success. Jericho’s support for the arts is apparent in their gallery space, which showcases the work of local artists. Silverman, who began his career as an art dealer, has developed his firm to specialize in providing financial services for creative entrepreneurs. They provide a great pairing for the technical, business savvy trio that currently comprises the quickly growing MOONDOG Animation team.

MOONDOG CEO Bryan Ransom said the team is “looking to build a really solid brick and mortar business here in the state, by using not only people from across the world who really know what they’re doing in animation…but also artists in the community here.” A South Carolina native, Ransom is excited to “dive into working with STEM education programs around the area,” as well as arts programs. He wants children to feel encouraged in these disciplines, so more of them will stick around when they graduate.

The crowd out to celebrate MOONDOG Animation at Jericho Arts.

Jericho Advisors’s expertise regarding Charleston’s business, creative and high-tech ecosystems will help MOONDOG create upwards of 300 tech and creative jobs over the next ten years. They plan to work themselves into the local talent infrastructure. “A lot of good things are happening education-wise here, but there needs to be more outlets for that education in the state. We hope to bring that,” CTO Ben Davis said. “Our company is going to succeed by trying to be really smart, or at least hiring people that are smarter than us to do really smart things,” he said of their goals to leverage technology to cut production time and costs.

While each member of the team has years of experience, and collectively a lifetime’s worth, they are starting smart by partnering with Jericho Advisors. With experience in technology and the arts, a familiarity with the Charleston and South Carolina environments, and a commitment to scaling high impact companies, Jericho Advisors are helping MOONDOG put down roots in Charleston. As they grow, so will Silicon Harbor, and its creative cohort.

Local art teacher wins the prize of the original MOONDOG print, with other winners and MOONDOG team.