Wiggin Advises Gleam Futures on Dentsu Aegis Network Deal

June 19, 2017

LONDON – Media, technology and brands law firm Wiggin LLP today announced it advised Gleam Futures to secure significant investment from global technology giant, Dentsu Aegis Network. The partnership will accelerate Gleam Futures’ national and global expansion of its digital-first talent, the content it creates, and the large audiences it commands.

Founded in 2010 and headquartered in London, Gleam Futures has offices in Los Angeles and Sydney and represents more than 40 of the world’s most prominent digital-first talent. Its roster features the stars behind more than half of the top 10 talent-led YouTube channels, such as Jim Chapman, Tanya Burr and Pixiwoo, who reach more than 55 million subscribers. Founder Dominic Smales retains a stake in the business and will spearhead its growth in his role as CEO of Gleam Futures.

Ciaran Hickey, Wiggin’s corporate partner who led the deal said: “It was great to work with Dom and the team at Gleam Futures on what is a key deal in the digital media space this year. Gleam is a pioneering business and the deal provides a fantastic platform for it to go on and achieve its global ambitions with the support of the Dentsu Aegis group. This was the latest in a series of deals for us in the space recently and a further sign of our growing reputation as a trusted advisor for strategic digital media and technology deals.”

Commenting on the deal, Smales said: “I am hugely excited to begin the next chapter in our evolution with Dentsu Aegis Network. We will continue to develop the careers of our entire roster by helping them build their intellectual property way ahead of the established talent agency trajectory. I’m also grateful to our advisors on the deal including Ciaran Hickey at Wiggin and Chris Graves from GP Bullhound – their specialist knowledge of the market was invaluable to the negotiations.”

Tracy De Groose, CEO, Dentsu Aegis Network UK & Ireland said: “The way people are consuming content has fundamentally changed as more people turn to trusted online content producers. This is the digital economy in action and few businesses have led from the forefront of the social influencer revolution like Gleam Futures. Its talent transcends the vast audience they command across platforms like YouTube. We now have a massive opportunity to help this truly unique business grow by creating powerful collisions between content, creative, and media distribution for its talent.”