Sidemen launch VC firm to find the Upside in consumer tech startups

The Sidemen‘s business empire is a sprawling endeavor that encompasses everything from fried chicken to football, and it’s now expanding to the financial sector. The creator group that includes KSI, Miniminter, Zerkaa, TBJZL, Behzinga, Vikkstar123, and W2S is launching a venture capital firm called Upside.

Upside was born out of a partnership between the Sidemen and General Partner Jamie Elliott, who met the U.K.-based septet in 2023. Since then, Upside has already made 12 investments ranging between £100,000 and £500,000 (~$133,00-$665,000), according to The Times. Startups backed by the new VC unit have included a social calendar app called Howbout and a plastic-free razor company called Nimbi.

As revenue and VC dollars have spurred the growth of the creator economy, numerous influencers have chosen to pay it forward by becoming investors themselves. Some individual creators throw their weight behind products they endorse. In other cases, deep-pocketed creator groups use their earnings to support other channels.

The Sidemen — who have benefitted from VC backing of their own — are putting their own money into Upside. Their work with the firm does not end there. Elliott told The Times 

that his creator partners are “involved in every step” of the process. They are helping identify investment opportunities, and once those deals are tendered, the septet is employing its creative assets to provide an additional boost. Getting a financial injection from the Sidemen is one thing; getting the chance to appear in one of their videos — and reach their 22 million YouTube subscribers — is a whole different kind of opportunity.

In a post on LinkedIn, Sidemen manager Jordan Schwarzenberger said that the first Upside Fund has a $25 million target. A group of “elite LPs,” including “the founders of Twitch, Unity, FaceIt, and MLG,” is helping to make those investments happen.

The Sidemen are still major stars on YouTube, and they’ve recently made their mark on Netflix as well. Despite the success of their creative endeavors, they’ve recently been keen on more “grown-up” business ventures that show the maturity of a group once known for its youthful indiscretion. By adding some money moves to their dribbling moves, the Sidemen are showing that they’ve become a powerhouse. As the creator economy rises, this septet will remain in the thick of it.