Studio Bo wins UNDP and Google backing after a year of near collapse
"Do whatever you can to survive and the tide eventually does turn"
Cape Town-based Studio Bo revealed it has won backing from the United Nations Development Programme and Google a year after it nearly ran out of money.
"Last year sucked for us," founder Richard Bolland wrote on LinkedIn. He said the studio lost over R2 million (~$120,000) in 2025 and was down to one month of cash.
"Our landlord was asking us whether we were going to renew our lease of our studio," he said. The team got a month-to-month deal and rode it out.
Three wins in 2026
This year turned things around. Bolland said the studio spent on sales and won more work from existing clients, plus new ones "who trusted us over the AI overlords".
It then won a place in a UNDP accelerator for eight Cape Town animation studios, alongside Motif Studios, Lucan and Fancy Horse Studios. "Our main goal in the accelerator is to develop Animal Therapy further into a commercial release," Bolland said. Animal Therapy is a cosy 2D kids show about emotions that the Cape Film Fund approved.
Studio Bo is also one of 10 studios Google Play picked for its Indie Games Fund in Africa, which pays $50,000 to $200,000 per studio. Its game, Idle Sands, is a mobile title that Bolland calls "our stupid, little game about managing vacuum cleaners on a beach".
His advice to other studios was simple. "Do whatever you can to survive and the tide eventually does turn."
