Private equity firm Livingbridge takes majority stake of Jungle Creations
Control of Jungle Creations, pioneers in the transition from social media to real-life experiences, has passed to a private equity firm as the owners capitalize on recent success to power growth.
Livingbridge has taken control of Jungle Creations to turbocharge growth
Livingbridge bought a 51% stake in the outlet for £30m after Jungle's founders sought to build on a bumper 2020 by obtaining the investment capital necessary to achieve ambitious future growth goals.
London-based Jungle Creations was founded in 2014 by Jamie Bolding and is run by co-chief execs Melissa Chapman and Nat Poulter. Specializing in the creation, production and distribution of social media content, the company is known for its special interest brands, namely Twisted, VT, Four Nine, Craft Factory, Level Fitness, Lovimals and Blue Crate.
Jungle Studios, the company’s branded content arm, also produces campaigns for clients such as Baileys, GSK and Mondelez. The firm’s interests also extend to The Wild, a social-first creative agency responsible for leveraging in-house data and insights to inform social campaigns for brands including Heinz, Major League Baseball and Silverspoon.
This activity brought the business to the attention of Livingbridge, which is providing capital via its Enterprise 3 fund to turbocharge Jungle’s growth with the launch of new brands, extra content and international growth.
Welcoming the investment, Vernan Richards, associate director at Livingbridge, said: “Jungle has demonstrated a consistent ability to create content that resonates with a large audience globally across multiple social platforms and verticals. In the current landscape, access to these audiences has become a valuable commodity for brands as they seek to target gen Z and millennial audiences.”
In 2020 Jungle recorded its most profitable year to date with revenues of £19.3m and profits of £2.5m, a performance that is set to be eclipsed this year amid an expectation that revenues could jump to £30m, generating a profit of £5.5m.
Bolding stood down as chief executive at the beginning of the year, passing day-to-day management of the business to Chapman and Poulter.
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Jungle Creations
Jungle Creations is a media, marketing and commerce business for the social age. It owns and operates seven core media brands including Twisted, Craft Factory, VT, Four Nine, Level Fitness, Lovimals and Blue Crate, that create and publish original content across Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat and TikTok and have together amassed over 116 million followers. Jungle Creations is home to The Wild, its full-service creative agency that connects brands to communities, culture and commerce and offers full creative solutions, events, social media management, production, influencer and performance marketing. Today Jungle Creations also operates a number of direct to consumer commerce businesses including Lovimals, Blue Crate, and the Twisted Store, that sells Twisted kitchenware and its upcoming; Twisted: A Cookbook that will be on shelves 16 April 2020.
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