Goldenset Collective launches from stealth with a $10 million seed round to deploy equity investments in digital makers. The company was founded by Rob Fishman, Darren Lachtman, and Nick Millman, the trio who previously founded Niche, a brand partnership marketplace that was acquired by Twitter for more than $50 million, and then Brat, a Gen Z entertainment network.
“For most creators, debt is the only financing option, and I find it quite scary to go into debt as an individual,” says Lachtman. So that’s the idea for Goldenset. We don’t place debt on makers, we really just want to provide them with financing and services that help them actually grow their business.
To date, the company has committed $1 million in capital to seven creators, including Audrey Hope, Christopher Sturniolo, Paige Taylor and Jeff Ma. businessroundups.org looked at a sample agreement between Goldenset and a maker, with the numbers redacted.
Under the sample contract, Goldenset invests an amount of money in a creator’s company in exchange for a certain percentage of their revenue – this includes brand deals and monetization on the platform, but not a creator’s day job or freelance income if that is separate state of their social media channels.
The creator doesn’t have to pay out their revenue share for a year unless they first cross a certain gross revenue threshold. Then the creator starts paying a different percentage of the proceeds until they reach certain milestones based on the portion of the investment they have paid back.
The contract has three termination options. In one scenario, the creator can pay back the investment during the first six months, as long as he gets the capital back. Or, when Goldenset has received a certain return on their investment, the creator can terminate the revenue share. In the latter case, the agreement ends by default after a certain period, as long as Goldenset has earned back a fixed amount of the investment.
Like any investment in stocks, there are pros and cons for the maker. An infusion of seed capital can accelerate business growth, but if the creator can’t generate as much revenue as expected, they could be stuck with this deal with Goldenset indefinitely. However, there is no scenario where the creator is on the hook for debts to Goldenset.
As part of their deal with Goldenset, creators get free access to LLC and company formation, two years of accounting and tax consulting services, payroll, legal support, public relations support, and business strategy consulting.
“We believe creators are not just ‘influencers’ who can be hired as billboards by other companies and brands, but are founders of high-growth startups with Fortune 500 potential,” the company said. website is reading.
Other companies such as Spotter and Creative Juice have experimented with the idea of investing in creators. In the case of Spotter, which raised $200 million last year, the company pays the creators a sum of money in exchange for all ad revenue from their YouTube back catalog for a set period of time. Like Goldenset, neither Spotter nor Creative Juice require makers to go into debt.
“I don’t think anyone is making real equity investments in these makers the way we do,” Millman told businessroundups.org. But Goldenset’s approach is unlike that of a traditional venture capital firm.
“We’re not trying to follow the venture model where you bet on 10 people and one of them has to work and get 100x,” Lachtman said. “We are pretty confident that most of these creators will continue to have quite established careers. If they outgrow us and we can get out of our deals with just a few X returns, we’ll be super happy with that too.”
Goldenset’s $10 million seed round is led by A.Capital and Lerer Hippeau with participation from Kevin Durant’s company, 35 Ventures, among others.
