“I have a pretty wild story to tell you,” says the first star of YouTube Caspar Lee in a Tikitok.
He continues to tell the story about how a starting founder slipped on his LinkedIn DMS with a stadium for an environmentally friendly deodorant called Wild. He initially ignored the message, but Sasha Kaletsky’s cousin, then an investor Bridgepoint, asked Lee if he and some other creators wanted to get into the seeds. In April, about five and a half years later, Wild is sold to Unilever for £233 million, or about $ 286 million.
Wild would only be the tip of the iceberg for Kaletsky and Lee. In 2019, they formed the Creator Ventures, a seed and pre-service capital fund that focused on consumer internet companies. Now Creator Ventures is starting its second fund with $ 45 million, more than twice the previous $ 20 million fund.
Creator Ventures already has a history of making some compact bets on newly established businesses. Elevenlabs, a AI audio company, now estimated at over $ 3.3 billion, was part of the Creator Ventures I. Fund shortly after acquiring Unilever Wild, another company backed by Creator Ventures, Runna, came to Strava. The company has also invested in the Buzzy Beehiiv newsletter, and has led to the AI Praktika language learning application.
After six years working with his first fund, the Creator Ventures Fund II will continue to invest in companies facing consumers, but with AI more closely, this is not a surprise listening to 2025.
“There is a trillion dollars of spending passing through iOS and Android App Stores every year, and if even a small percentage taken by AI Apps consumers, this is going to be a multitude of unicorns,” Kaletsky told Techcrunch.
In addition to the interest in AI, Kaletsky sees some other growing trends in the consumer internet. He is particularly interested in continuous streaming applications, which have long been popular in Asian markets, but have begun to make real dent in the US
“The crazy place for Reelshort, which is exciting, is pricing,” Kaletsky said. “People sometimes don’t realize that they charge $ 20 a week … it’s much more expensive than Netflix.”
So far, according to App Store Appfigures, Microdrama Dramabox and Reelshort apps have made $ 99 million and $ 152 million from US -based markets respectively. These elements reflect growth 203% and 233% on an annual basis, respectively, from the same time in 2024.
Some of the Creator Ventures bets are a bit more profitable. Kaletsky and Lee are also excited about an application in their portfolio called SituationA social network application where users publish updates to an AI Bots audience, which means that no one really sees what they publish. Bots may love your posts or cancel you. The company markets itself as “Sims but social media”.
These newly established social network businesses are upgraded in the last year, though to a skeptic, the appeal of the social experiences of AI can only seem doubtful. However, according to Creator Ventures, the situation has more than 1 million worldwide users after starting earlier this year.
Although Creator Ventures is not necessarily a creators’ economy fund, business parallels between starting and content creators such as Lee remain at the center of the business vision.
“Many consumer internet founders find that the real exciting market strategy is around social,” Lee said. “Many of these founders become creators on their own … And this is something I like to participate as someone who comes from this world.”
The fund II is supported by the level, the cendana, the vintage, the isomer capital, the sequoia and other partners. Kaletsky said some of the supporters of the fund II had not invested in consumer funds in over 10 years.
“I think, I hope people are starting to see the potential of consumers at this time,” Kaletsky said.
Lee added: “It’s nice to be able to invest in things that our friends and family can meet.”
