Kimbal Musk (L) and Jeffrey Katzenberg (R) aim to merge Hollywood storytelling with next-gen drone tech. Photos by Chris Saucedo/Getty Images for SXSW and Christopher Polk/WWD via Getty Images
Jeffrey Katzenberg, the co-founder of DreamWorks, and Kimbal Musk, the younger brother of Elon Musk, make an unlikely duo. Their collaboration began in an even more unexpected setting: the annual Burning Man festival held in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert. It was there, in 2022, that Katzenberg first saw a light show by Musk’s drone entertainment venture, Nova Sky Stories.
The spectacle clearly left a mark. Katzenberg is now partnering with Musk to further Nova Sky Stories’ goal of bringing entertainment to the sky. He has joined the company as a board member and strategic advisor, while his investment firm, WndrCo, is backing the venture in a new $50 million fundraising round.
Their work together won’t stop there. Katzenberg and Musk are also co-developing a drone “sky story” set to debut in 2026. Nova Sky Stories’ arsenal of LED-equipped drones, which can withstand urban interference and harsh climates, has previously been utilized to create large-scale light shows at concerts, museums and even Tesla’s Robotaxi unveiling last October.
“Jeffrey has shaped the world’s most iconic family entertainment experiences, and now he’s bringing that magic to Nova,” said Musk, a businessman and restaurateur who serves on the boards of Burning Man, Tesla and SpaceX, in a statement. “His belief in what we’re building—and his decision to join our board and investment through WndrCo—means everything to us.”
Musk’s Burning Man showcase came shortly after he established Nova Sky Stories by acquiring Intel’s former drone light division. That group staged shows at the 2017 Super Bowl and 2020 Tokyo Olympics but faced struggles during the Covid-19 pandemic. Today, Musk says, the company is profitable and ready to operate in more than 40 countries.
Katzenberg takes on the sky
Katzenberg’s investment in Nova Sky Stories marks the producer’s first major media investment in years since the failed launch of Quibi, a short-form streaming venture, in 2020. Besides serving as the chairman of Walt Disney Studios and overseeing animation classics like Aladdin and The Lion KingKatzenberg is best known for co-founding the animation studio DreamWorks in 1994 alongside Steven Spielberg and David Geffen, which was sold to Comcast in 2016.
In recent years, Katzenberg has turned his focus to tech investments through WndrCo, the investment firm he launched in 2016 alongside Sujay Jaswa, a former Dropbox executive. Earlier this year, WndrCo led a $15.5 million round in Creatify, an A.I. video advertising platform. The firm has also invested in Databricks, Deel and Figma.
“I’m most excited by how Nova is using cutting-edge technology to do something never seen before,” said Katzenberg in a statement, adding that “the innovations coming in the next 12 to 18 months will unlock a level of complexity and immersion in live entertainment that anyone has yet to experience.”
Katzenberg is betting that his entertainment background, combined with Nova’s technological edge, can spark a new form of storytelling. Beyond licensing existing characters from established companies, Nova Sky Stories also aims to create original characters and worlds, noted Katzenberg during a recent interview with Yahoo Finance. “It’s a little bit of a cliche: the sky’s the limit,” he said.
