Goalhanger Ventures will back creator-led media businesses and has already struck two deals.
Gary Lineker’s growing media and production company Goalhanger has launched a venture capital arm, as it looks to diversify its business and invest in creator-led media businesses.
The maker of popular podcasts like The Rest is History and The Rest is Politics has launched Goalhanger Ventures.
The VC unit is billing itself as an “investment and partnerships” business, which, it says, will back creator-led media businesses with strong potential across video, social, audio, live and commercial platforms.
Goalhanger Ventures has already struck two deals.
It has made an equity investment in Invisible Media, which is behind The Invisible Hand YouTube channel, which has a focus on “topics that will shape the future of the global economy with infographic videos” from markets to money in an accessible way.
Goalhanger Ventures has also struck a commercial deal with sports creator brand Backyard Cricket, founded by Yorkshire brothers James and Mark Wood.
The pair began making videos in their family garden during lockdown and have since built a significant following, travelling around the world to create cricket content that blends humour, personality and a passion for the game.
Goalhanger will provide funding and strategic support to help Backyard Cricket grow across production, longer-form video, commercial partnerships, sponsorship and merchandise, with both sides sharing in the commercial upside, Goalhanger said.
Jack Davenport, Goalhanger co-founder, said: “Goalhanger Ventures is about giving exceptional creator-led businesses the infrastructure to grow without losing what made them special in the first place.
“Invisible Media and Backyard Cricket are very different propositions, but they both have that rare combination of editorial clarity, audience trust and genuine momentum.
“Our role is to help them scale thoughtfully, commercially and creatively, while protecting the independence, personality and quality that their communities already respond to.”
Goalhanger’s new VC arms follow the launch of Goalhanger’s incubator programme called The Accelerator, which launched earlier this year to support digital creators, providing training and mentorship and access to Goalhanger’s senior talent.
Goalhanger, which also produces The Rest is Money and The Rest is Football podcasts, was co-founded by Lineker, the former England striker, who went on to become a famous TV presenter, in 2019.
It describes itself as “the world’s fastest-growing media and production company”.
It currently receives some 70 million full-length episode views per month across audio and video for its 14 regular shows and has more than 250,000 paying subscribers across its network of shows.
Lineker struck a deal with Netflix last year, which will see the US streaming giant carry The Rest is Football on its platform during the World Cup.