Goalhanger Launches Venture Arm, Striking 2 Startup Deals After 750 Million 2025 Streams
Updated
Updated · City A.M. · May 26
Goalhanger Launches Venture Arm, Striking 2 Startup Deals After 750 Million 2025 Streams
2 articles · Updated · City A.M. · May 26
Goalhanger has set up Goalhanger Ventures to back creator-led media businesses, opening with an equity investment in Invisible Media and a commercial partnership with Backyard Cricket.
The new unit extends the podcast group's push to reinvest its growth by giving early-stage media brands infrastructure, commercial support and creative backing without taking away their independence.
Greg Bettinelli of The Chernin Group, which invested in Goalhanger in January, is among the venture arm's directors, signaling the unit could eventually seek outside capital.
250,000 paid subscribers and more than £15 million in annual subscription revenue have helped fund that expansion, as Goalhanger shifts beyond advertising into subscriptions, events and now startup investing.
The move adds to Goalhanger's rapid rise since the pandemic, with its shows streamed more than 750 million times in 2025 and Gary Lineker still holding a 33% stake.
Beyond funding, what is Goalhanger's playbook for when a star creator's personal brand inevitably faces crisis or burnout?
As investors professionalize creator brands, can the raw authenticity that built their audiences survive the corporate playbook?