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The UK’s biggest YouTube group The Sidemen have launched a new venture capital firm called Upside VC that will reportedly support tech startups.
The YouTube collective The Sidemen have announced that they are launching a venture capital firm that will support consumer tech startups.
Called Upside VC, this new firm will have an £18 million fund to invest in different businesses. So far, it has made twelve investments ranging between £100,000 and £500,000.
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These include a social calendar app called Howbout, a luxury membership service called Mile, and plastic-free razor company Nimbi. Eventually, Upside VC hopes to back up to 40 different organisations.
Each company that is taken on board by Upside VC will benefit from both a financial boost and substantial exposure from The Sidemen’s social media channels. All will be showcased and advertised to the group’s existing audience.
In a statement, general Upside VC partner Jamie Elliot said that The Sidemen are ‘involved in every step’ of the investment process. ‘It’s very rare to find anyone who knows their fans and customers as well as these guys do,’ he said.
Josh Bradley, one of the founding Sidemen members, has said that the brand wants to specifically focus on tech companies because of their potential to scale at substantial speed, especially compared to more traditional businesses that require brick-and-mortar stores and more comprehensive frameworks.
‘With creators involved it can be wicked,’ he said.
The Sidemen are a sizable force in the YouTube space, boasting over 150 million followers and an accumulative 50 billion views across all platforms. They’ve been active as a collective for over ten years and are considered to be the most notable YouTubers in the UK by some margin.
