YMU has launched a new venture fund designed to invest directly in the businesses being built by its talent and creators.
The YMU Ventures Fund will operate as a dedicated investment vehicle supporting founder-led ventures across media, sport, culture and commerce, giving creators access to capital, infrastructure and commercial support as they scale beyond traditional brand deals.
The agency represents a broad mix of talent across digital, entertainment and sport, including Grace Beverley, TOPJAW and Giggs, alongside presenters Ant & Dec, Simon Cowell, Graham Norton, and footballers Tyler Adams and James McAtee. The new fund is designed to sit across that entire ecosystem, backing ideas that turn influence into long-term IP, products and platforms.
YMU says the fund will take a flexible approach to investing, which could include taking equity stakes in creator-led businesses, as well as supporting distribution, partnerships and commercial strategy through its global network.
The move formalises what the company describes as a long-term shift in how it works with talent, moving beyond traditional representation into ownership, IP creation and long-term value building. Existing projects such as Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place wellness brand and Ant & Dec’s production company Mitre Studios are early examples of this approach in action.
Rather than focusing solely on fees and short-term deals, YMU plans to work with talent to build content IP, product brands, media and production businesses, digital platforms and other commercial ventures emerging at the intersection of talent, technology and culture.
YMU CEO Mary Bekhait said the economics of talent have fundamentally changed.
“Influence now compounds into ownership, IP and enterprise – not just fees,” she said. “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 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 performers, and building businesses that can endure well beyond a single moment or platform.”
Commercial Director Leon Harlow said the fund is designed to solve a growing problem facing creators as they try to scale.
“A trend we are seeing is that talent and creators often reach an inflection point where access to the right funding can massively accelerate the growth of their IP and venture ideas,” he said. “But only if that funding is aligned with their long-term objectives.”
He added that too often, growth capital comes with trade-offs.
“For talent, that usually means loss of ownership, loss of control and loss of creative decision-making,” Harlow said. “The YMU Venture Fund exists to change that. It allows us to invest directly in our talent and creators’ ventures, where it makes sense, to support smarter, more sustainable growth for their content and product businesses, while still allowing them to preserve founder-level ownership and strategic and creative influence.”
In a LinkedIn post announcing the launch, Harlow described the fund as another step in YMU’s broader strategy to move beyond traditional representation and into long-term value creation alongside talent.
“This is about backing talent and creators as founders, not just creatives,” he wrote. “Lots more to come.”
For the wider creator economy, the launch is another sign that major agencies are repositioning themselves as long-term partners in building IP and businesses, not just deal-makers. As more creators look to build companies, platforms and product brands of their own, access to aligned capital may become just as important as access to brand partnerships.
