The creator group The Sidemen, which includes KSI, Miniminter, Zerkaa, TBJZL, Behzinga, Vikkstar123, and W2S is launching a venture capital firm called Upside. Upside was born out of a partnership between the Sidemen and General Partner Jamie Elliott, who met the U.K.-based septet in 2023. Since then, Upside has already made 12 investments ranging between £100,000 and £500,000

Substack creators now have the option to disable video on livestreams for an audio-only live experience. This format is designed for creators who wish to remain anonymous, call-in-style formats, and more casual updates.

Skybound Entertainment, the company that has incubated franchises like The Walking Dead and Invincible is linking up with YouTube notables through its acquisition of the creator management firm Nine Four Entertainment. Nine Four will be incorporated into Skybound as the entertainment company’s digital creator and influencer representation arm. President Parker Oks will continue to lead the Nine Four team, which reps social media standouts like Jacksfilms, I’m Dontai, and Jennelle Eliana. Nine Four also has a business development arm, through which it has worked with its creator clients to launch spin-off brands and products. Entities developed through that operation include Eamon & Bec’s mindful tea company Habit and Markiplier’s clothing line Cloak.

Amazon has confirmed that the Prime Video original series Beast Games has been renewed for two additional seasons.

Whalar Group has landed its biggest capital injection to date. The firm that operates multiple creator-facing businesses has announced a strategic investment from a trio of notable names: Salesforce Co-Founder Marc Benioff, ecommerce platform Shopify, and Hollywood producer Neal H. Moritz. The exact size of the the investment was not publicly revealed, but a Whalar spokesperson told Bloomberg that the deal came with an attached valuation of $400 million.

Edison data that shows YouTube is the #1 podcast service in the U.S, and it turns out a lot of that watch time is on TVs: users are listening to/watching over 400 million hours of podcast content per month on living room devices.

Creator startup Shibuya has launched a short-form streaming platform where fans green-light projects to go to series, featuring projects from creators like Elle Mills.

Creator group Yes Theory recently sold the fulfillment arm of its merch development business, Fan of a Fan, to Texas-based (and Mark Cuban-owned) logistics company Selery Fulfillment in a multi-million-dollar asset sale.

Beehiiv is an all-in-one creator friendly platform for newsletters and blogs that makes it easy to design, write, send, promote, monetize, and track the ROI of your newsletter. Created by former employees at the famous newsletter company Morning Brew, Beehiiv aims to help creators launch and monetize their own newsletter.

SuperPhone is an intelligent mobile messaging platform that helps enterprise retail brands acquire, and engage with mobile customers in an impactful way.

Jibby is dedicated to transforming daily coffee & tea rituals into wellness journeys by infusing nourishing ingredients like collagen and superfoods —providing you energy, mood balance, stress relief, and more.