Next 10 Ventures, iflix Launch $5 Million Incubator For Digital Creators In Southeast Asia

Next 10 Ventures, an investment company launched earlier this year by former YouTube exec Benjamin Grubbs to fund other businesses within the digital creator economy, has partnered with Malaysian SVOD service iflix to launch its second incubator initiative.

Dubbed the iFlix Creators Hub, the $5 million venture will focus on bolstering the visibility of 30 emerging filmmakers across Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, Bangladesh, and the Philippines. Creators will be eligible for investments of between $45,000 and $75,000, to be deployed over a period of 12 months.  In addition to the funding, the incubator — launching in April with a boot camp in Bali — will also mentor creators in the realms of community building, personal wellness, and creative inspiration.

Content ensuing from the program — spanning comedy, lifestyle, and other categories — will also have the opportunity to be distributed on the iflix platform, which launched iflix Snacks in April as a hub for short-form programming.“Given the low penetration of paid TV and the mobile-first nature of emerging markets, there is a huge opportunity to reach audiences through authentic, short-form content,” Craig Galvin

, iflix’s global head of content (pictured above), said in a statement.

Applications for the incubator are available here through Feb. 1. In order to be eligible, creators in the four aforementioned countries must have a minimum of 50,000 subscribers on either YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitch. They must also be uploading somewhat regularly — to the tune of roughly five videos (which are between two and seven minutes apiece) per month.

Grubbs, who formerly served as YouTube’s global director of top creator partnerships, launched Next 10 Ventures with $50 million in funding in March alongside former Warner Bros. exec Paul Condolora, who serves as COO. The company has offices in Singapore and Los Angeles. In October, it unveiled its first-ever creator fund, the EduCreator Incubator, targeting YouTubers in the education space.