YMU, the global talent management and entertainment group, has launched its own investment fund.
According to the announcement, YMU Venture Fund is a dedicated investment fund designed to support and amplify the growth of talent and creator-led ventures across media, sport, culture and commerce.
“The fund formalises YMU’s strategy of moving beyond traditional representation into ownership, IP creation and long-term value building alongside talent,” said a statement.
Examples include multi-vertical wellness platform Happy Place with Fearne Cotton and content and production group Mitre Studios with Ant & Dec.
The fund will invest in accelerating and growing early-stage ventures founded or co-created by its talent, in the content or product space, as well as in channels, platforms, IP and operating partners across YMU’s ecosystem.
YMU Group operates out of London, Manchester, Washington DC, New York and Los Angeles. The integrated management group employs more than 200 people across four divisions and central functions, with business verticals including entertainment, music, sport and literary.
YMU will utilise the Venture Fund to support its talent and creator clients in accelerating the growth of their content IP, product brands, media and production assets, digital platforms and channels, and commercial ventures.
Mary Bekhait (pictured), CEO of YMU, said: “The economics of talent have fundamentally changed. Influence now compounds into ownership, IP and enterprise – not just fees. The most ambitious talent no longer wants to just be ‘the face’ of something; they want to help build it, shape it and participate meaningfully in the upside.
“The YMU Venture Fund allows us to support our clients in realising that shift. This fund gives us the structure and conviction to invest earlier, partner deeper and think longer-term alongside our clients. It’s about backing our talent and creators as founders, not just creatives and performers, and building businesses that can endure well beyond a single moment or platform”.
This fund gives us the structure and conviction to invest earlier, partner deeper and think longer-term alongside our clients
Mary Bekhait
The fund will be supported by YMU’s cross-divisional expertise in management, brand partnerships, product strategy, social audience growth, content production, IP development, and live events in order to create a “joined-up approach to venture creation and scaling”.
Leon Harlow, commercial director at YMU, added: “A trend we are seeing is that talent and creators often reach an inflection point where access to the right capital can materially accelerate the growth of their IP and venture ideas – but only if that funding is aligned with their long-term objectives. Too often for talent, growth capital comes at the expense of ownership, control and creative governance.
“The YMU Venture Fund is designed to address that imbalance. It allows us to invest in our clients’ ventures, where it makes sense – to enable smarter, more sustainable growth for their product and content businesses, whilst at the same time allowing them to preserve their founder-level ownership, strategic influence, and creative integrity – working alongside our in-house experts and teams to support them.”
The YMU Venture Fund builds on YMU’s track record of supporting talent-led ventures and IP.
It will operate with a flexible investment mandate, taking versatile and strategic stakes, and work closely with clients to unlock distribution, partnerships and commercial growth through YMU’s global network.
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‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.musicweek.com ’
