Discovery alum Carolina Lightcap targets Gen Z with launch of Ibero-American studio ShowUp

Former Discovery exec Carolina Lightcap will head the team behind ShowUp Studios, a digital content studio designed to create content for YouTube, TikTok and social platforms.

Carolina Lightcap

Lightcap has teamed with Mariano Chihade, CEO and founder of Argentinian prodco Mandarina Contenidos; Demián Falestchi, co-founder and CEO of adtech company Kidscorp; and Federico Lauría, CEO and founder of music outfit DalePlay, to launch ShowUp Studios.

Lightcap is currently CEO of LightCubed Media, having previously held roles including president of Disney Channels Worldwide; chief content officer of Discovery Latin America/US Hispanic; general manager of Discovery Kids Media; and general manager of the US English-language network Discovery Family.

Throughout her career, Lightcap has lived and worked in Buenos Aires, New York, LA and Miami and is currently based in Madrid.

ShowUp Studios is seeking to combine “the agility of content creators with the production quality of traditional media” and plans to produce over 4,500 episodes within its first five years.

This content will span a variety of genres, formats and runtimes, including both vertical and horizontal video, across both live-action and animation.

The company is currently in its pre-seed funding round and will host Upfront presentations to showcase its IP to advertisers before production in the second half of the year.

“ShowUp Studios was born with the ambition to build a studio and digital premium content ecosystem that is scalable and deeply centered on Gen Z – meeting this generation on the platforms where they already live; ensuring their voice is present at every stage of the process; and listening to their feedback as an audience day by day to deliver the content they are looking for,” said Lightcap, who will lead the company.

Chihade added: “We are combining expertise in large-format productions with the new consumption dynamics of this generation—including vertical and horizontal formats, diverse genres and lengths, and collaboration with creators using a natively digital language.”