Jellysmack, WebTVAsia Set $30 Million Investment in Content Creators

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Jellysmack is partnering with Asian creator economy venture WebTVAsia to invest $30 million in content creators across the region.

WebTVAsia is a leading YouTube partner in AsiaPac, with a channel network reaching 880 million subs. Jellysmack’s roster includes creators like MrBeast, How Ridiculous, JianHao Tan, Food Kingdom, Junya and PewDiePie. The Jellysmack investment will be used to help leading digital content creators in AsiaPac grow their businesses, including staffing, building new studio space, launching products and scaling up production values.

“Partnering with WebTVAsia to deploy capital to APAC creators is a unique opportunity,” said Ezechiel Ritchie, Jellysmack’s general manager for the Asia Pacific. “They are a key partner that understands the pulse of Asia and can foster creators’ growth via our creator financing program. This initiative is going to have a huge impact on content creators in the region, enabling them to scale up through a variety of new financial technology solutions personalized to their unique needs, and I can’t wait to see the results.”

“WebTVAsia was one of the first to invest into the creator economy of Asia,” said Fred Chong, WebTVAsia’s founder and group CEO. “In the past three-year pandemic-hit period alone, we have generated over $100 million in direct income for creators. Our long-term relationship is built on 3 ‘F’ values that creators desire most: fame, fortune and freedom (to create). As a creator myself, I see this partnership with Jellysmack as a game-changer that will open up new possibilities for creators to bridge the Web 2.0 and 3.0 worlds. The next 6 to 12 months will see us launching exciting new creator tools and solutions, including content NFTs, digital wallet, virtual identity for metaverse, fan community and Web 2.5 monetization models.”

The deal with WebTVAsia follows Jellysmack’s nine-figure Series C investment from SoftBank.