Fukunaga is also the co-founder and manager of EchoLight Studios, a Texas-based Christian television production company ran by
Rick Santorum. EchoLight initially shared office space with Fukunaga's
Funimation.
[6]
Originally Toei Animation told Funimation that they could not have the
Dragon Ball series. However Fukunaga's uncle, Nagafumi Hori, was one of the producers for Toei and helped Fukunaga convince Toei Animation to give the licence to Funimation.
[7] So Gen went to a coworker named Daniel Cocanougher whose family owned a
feed mill in
Decatur, Texas and convinced the Cocanougher family to sell their business and invest in creating a production company. With that, FUNimation Productions was established in 1994.[
citation needed]
In 2005, Funimation was acquired by the
Navarre Corporation for US$100.4 million, Fukunaga still remained the company's CEO. In 2011, the company was sold to a group of investors which included Fukunaga himself.
[8] In 2017, Funimation was sold to
Sony Pictures Television Networks for US$143 million.
[9]