Creative Juice, a US-based financing service provider for social media stars, has raised $15m in its series A round and added $50m to its Juice Funds, which it uses to invest in creators and their companies.
Venture capital firm Acrew Capital led the A round, which also included Meena Harris, Concrete Rose, Larry Fitzgerald, and TikToker Jared Waldrom, following a $5m seed round last year from YouTube star Jimmy ‘MrBeast’ Donaldson.
Dustin Blank joined the firm last May after Amazon acquired his prior employer, film maker MGM, top run Creative’s investments and creator partnerships for Youtube and other online stars.
“Juice grows as creators grow,” Sima Gandhi, founder of Creative alongside Night Media president Ezra Cooperstein, said in a statement. “There’s a massive economic boom in the creator economy, but millions of creators remain under-banked and misunderstood by traditional financial institutions. Our Series A and the enhanced Juice Funds will enable a new surge of possibility in terms of products and productions.”
Other firms are making similar moves. Animal Capital, a venture capital firm that counts TikTok stars Noah Beck, Josh Richards and Griffin Johnson among its partners, has raised more than $35m for its second fund and partnered with Betches Media to back more female founders.
Run by Marshall Sandman, Animal Capital previously raised $16.8m for a first fund with celebrities, including Paris Hilton, Christina Aguilera and Nicholas Braun, and financiers, such as Anthony Scaramoochi and the Winklevoss brothers, among its limited partners.
Betches, best known for its decade-old satirical blog for women, will see founders Jordana Abraham, Aleen Dreksler and Samantha Sage gain carry in Animal Capital’s new fund, and will counsel some of its portfolio companies on marketing.
Animal’s prior deals include One More Game, a US-based gaming studio, which raised $22m in its A last month.
