Electrify Video Partners raises $50 million to invest in YouTube channels (Exclusive)

Electrify Video Partners has raised $50 million to invest in and acquire YouTube channels.

London-based Electrify was co-founded in May 2021 by Ian Shepherd (a Turner Broadcasting, Universal Music Group, and Walt Disney alum who also co-founded creator/consumer brand licensing company The Social Store), Owen Maher (a longtime finance exec who was executive managing partner of strategy for Findex and a principal at investment company KKR), and Justin Reizes (a former longtime KKR executive).

The trio founded Electrify to invest both cash and resources into “established, successful creators with a solid income,” in exchange for partial ownership of their channels (usually around 50%) and a share of profits. Electrify is also in the market to acquire some channels outright.

So far, Electrify has made publicly announced investments in three YouTube channels. It doesn’t disclose how much it invests in each, but tells Tubefilter amounts range from “several hundred thousand dollars to many millions.”

Its three investments include: Astronomy-focused Astrum, which has gone from 780,000 subscribers to 1.3 million since receiving investment in 2021 (plus grown its views 70% year over year); LEGO enthusiast Spitbrix, which has gone from 550,000 to 750,000 subscribers since receiving investment in 2022; and kids’ channel Fizzy, which is Electrify’s most recent investment. That channel just hit 10 million subscribers.

Shepherd tells Tubefilter Electrify is in the final stages of due diligence with “a couple more channels,” and is “in active conversations with many more.”

Electrify is “keen to speak with established YouTube channel owners that are looking for a partner to accelerate the growth of their business, or are interested in selling their channel altogether,” he says.

The company’s $50 million raise was led by MEP Capital, with participation by a number of private investors.

It plans to use the funding to continue investing in “established, successful creators with a solid income,” it tells Tubefilter.

When it invests in a creator and their channel, it aims to “at least treble the revenue and profit of our investments by using four key growth levers.” Those “growth levers” include helping creators scale the volume and quality of their YouTube content, distributing that YouTube across other platforms, adding “ancillary” revenue streams, and using its in-house data and tools for “optimizing and implementing best practices.”

“We believe YouTube will continue to be the dominant platform for creators,” Elizabeth Zavoyskiy, an investment principal at MEP Capital, tells Tubefilter. “The challenge is building the optimization of a channel’s catalog while continuing to grow audiences with new content. The team at Electrify has proven themselves as experts in managing both through their existing collection of amazing channels. They do it with integrity, speed, and unconditional respect for their creator partners.”

Zavoyskiy adds, “We’re extremely grateful to work closely with Electrify to help power the next chapter of their growth.”