“I have a pretty wild story to tell you,” early YouTube star Caspar Lee says on Tiktok.
He goes on to talk about how the startup founder slipped into his LinkedIn DMS on a pitch about an eco-friendly deodorant called Wild. He initially ignored the message, but his cousin Sasha Karetzky (the Bridgepoint investor at the time) asked Lee if he and the other creators would like to join the seed round. In April this year, about five and a half years later, Wild was sold to Unilever for £233 million, or about $286 million.
Wild is just the tip of the iceberg between Karetzky and Lee. In 2019, they founded Creator Venture, a seed and seed venture capital fund focused on consumer internet companies. Currently, Creator Venture has launched its second fund for $45 million, more than twice the previous $20 million fund.
Creator Ventures already has a proven track record of placing solid bets on seed stage startups. ElevenLabs, an AI audio company that currently weighs over $3.3 billion, was part of Creator Ventures’ Fund I. Shortly after Unilever acquired Wild, Runna, another creator venture company, came out on Strava’s app, which tracks exercises. The company has also invested in the Buzzy Newsletter platform Beehiiv, leading the seed round for the AI language learning app Praktika.
After working with the first fund for six years, Creator Venture Fund II continues to invest in consumer companies, but is focusing on AI. This is not surprising to hear about it in 2025.
“There’s a trillion dollar spending that goes through iOS and Android app stores every year. Even a small portion of that would make it a huge number of unicorns when a consumer AI app shoots,” Kaletsky told TechCrunch.
Aside from interest in AI, Kaletsky sees other burgeoning trends in the consumer internet space. He is particularly interested in microdrama streaming apps. Microdramas have long been popular in the Asian market, but are beginning to produce real dents in the US
“The crazy part about the fascinating reel shorts is the pricing,” Calletkey said. “People don’t realize they charge $20 a week, which is much more expensive than Netflix.”
So far, Microdrama Apps Dramabox and Reelshort have made $99 million and $152 million from in-app purchases in the US, respectively, according to App Store Data Provider’s AppFigures. These figures reflect 233% year-on-year growth from the same time frame in 2024.
Some of the creator venture bets are a little more speculative. Kaletsky and Lee are also excited about their portfolio app called Status, a social network-like app where users post updates to AI bot audiences. The bot may love your post or cancel you. The company is being sold as “Sims but Social Media.”
These AI bot-filled social network startups may seem suspicious to those who are skeptical last year. However, according to Creator Ventures, Status has more than 1 million global users since launching earlier this year.
Creator ventures aren’t necessarily creator economy funds, but the similarities between startup founders and content creator entrepreneurs such as Lee are at the heart of the company’s vision.
“Many consumer internet founders have realized that the really exciting market market strategy is about social,” Lee said. “Many of these founders are becoming creators in their own right…and that’s something I love to be involved as someone from that world.”
Fund II is supported by Level, Sendana, Vintage, Isomer Capital, Sequoia and other partners. Kaletsky said some of Fund II’s backers have not invested in consumer-only funds for over a decade.
“Hopefully people are beginning to see consumer potential in this era,” Karetzky said.
Lee added: “It’s great for us to be able to invest in what friends and family can come across.”