Creative studios tend to build their brands with key clients over time, but one Atlanta studio that is expanding its game to include TV pilots is gaining momentum more like a tech startup -- through venture capital funding.
Ideas United, LLC, a creative studio that produces content and events for brands, universities, nonprofits and networks, has raised $15 million from Kayne Partners, the growth equity group of Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, L.P., much like a tech startup would.
The studio intends to use the new funds to continue growing and expanding its business reach globally.
"We’ve steadily built Ideas United year after year, bootstrapping it since we started it as students over 15 years ago," David Roemer, co-founder and CEO of Ideas United, said. "Along the way, we've been fortunate to see many growth opportunities as industries we could compete in have been quickly changing. Last year, we identified four key lines of our business with the most growth potential, and decided that with access to additional capital, we could purposefully focus on all of them."
Ideas United was born out of Campus Movie Fest, a student film festival featuring more than a million students who created short movies. Now, the company specializes in college content creators, branded content, capital campaigns and original content. Brands the company works with include Starbucks, CARE, Carter's, Panasonic, Revlon, Google and more.
"We began the process saying that if we found the right partner that believed in our team and our vision, and brought additional expertise and relationships, that we’d be thrilled to team up," Roemer said. "We couldn’t be more excited about the fit with Kayne Partners, and about the potential to rapidly grow the value of our company and the impact we’re making."
Most recently, Ideas United has worked to develop five television pilots based on the top concepts submitted from its emerging creators, and is working to produce multiple feature films and series. This expansion into content creation is what attracted VCs to Ideas United, Roemer said.
"Ever since we started Ideas United, we’ve tried to approach opportunities differently than traditional agencies...This key differentiator is similar to a network effect that VCs find appealing from a scalability perspective, and we’re able to apply this model that produces high-quality, authentic, cost-efficient content across multiple business lines," he said. "As traditional agencies struggle with the changing demands of their clients (more content, less budget, and a constant need for quality), we’re often uniquely positioned to take advantage of the opportunities."
Industries, Roemer said, are bumping into each other, whether they be education, marketing branded content or even original content. The opportunities for agencies like Ideas United are limitless.
"There’s more content needs than ever, and if agencies can identify a model to produce quality, cost efficient content, then they can benefit from the exceptional growth opportunities," he said. "As investors seek to be where consumers and businesses are going to demand content in the future — whether it’s original content or AR/VR — then there seems to be tremendous potential for partnerships/investments."
