In a tough economy that’s seen many a production company trying in vain to raise seed money from increasingly risk-averse banks, Madrid, Spain-based prodco Zinkia is working on an alternative financial plan that it hopes will help grow its business in a down market. The company has just joined Spain’s Alternative Stock Market for Growth Companies (Mercardo Alternativo Bursatil para Empresas en Expansion, MAB), and is, in fact, its first member.

MAB, which opened in May 2006, is an organized trading platform authorized by the Spanish government and regulated by

the Spanish Stock Market. It’s targeting small- to medium-sized non-listed companies on the hunt for more market capitalization, liquidity, transparency and visibility. And Zinkia president José Maria Castillejo realized his company fit that bill perfectly.

Zinkia’s hoping to raise up to US$14 million through a 50/50 split between new capital and sales of MAB-listed shares, which will go straight into generating content around the company’s IPs. A 2012 theatrical release is already in the works for Zinkia’s best-known property, Pocoyo, as well as a Wii title to add to its battery of DS games. And the prodco is also working on generating online communities for Shuriken School, Mola Noburu and Fish Tales.

‘We’re happy to be the first company there because, at the same time as it’s helping us grow, it’s generating a lot of noise about the characters,’ he says.

A bit more about the MAB: The first stage, made up of some 3,300 firms and exchange-listed funds, involved a segment for open-ended investment funds, including Spanish banks (BBVA, Banco Santander and La Caixa). June 2007 saw the first venture capital firm begin trading on the market. The third segment for Growth Companies for low-capitalization stocks was approved in 2008 with its operations supervised by Spanish securities market regulator CNMV.