Two creator-business companies with the same founder are becoming one. According to Adweek‘s Mark Stenberg, the social-first agency LV8 is merging with its sister company Mirage Digital, and the combined firm is raising equity funding in the “high eight figures” from private equity firm Velocity Capital Management.
Who’s coming together
Griffin Haddrill founded or co-founded both businesses, though he stepped away from Mirage in 2023, Adweek reports. The merged company will run under the LV8 name, with Haddrill as CEO, and he told Adweek it will bring in annual revenue in the “high eight figures.”
LV8, based in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, handles influencer marketing, content production, digital ads and social media management for brands. Mirage, founded in 2021, works on the creator side: it syndicates and licenses videos so they can earn money on streaming TV, free ad-supported channels, social platforms and the web. According to a Business Wire announcement from Velocity, Mirage runs more than 70 owned content channels, has more than 400 creator partnerships and has racked up over two billion views across its network.
What they say the deal is for
Haddrill said in the announcement that the two companies are connecting “brands, creators, content, distribution and monetization in one platform” in an industry that has been fragmented. Erin Edwards, a partner at Velocity, called the two businesses “highly complementary” and said the firm plans to help them grow their owned-media footprint and brand relationships.
Adweek reports the new money will go toward acquisitions as brand services and creator services keep blending together. Velocity’s release adds that the company will chase deals across marketing and the creator economy. Terms of Velocity’s stake were not disclosed.
The takeaway
The money in the creator economy is moving toward companies that can do everything in one place: land the brand deal, make the content, and then keep earning from it on TV channels and other platforms long after it first posts. For independent creators, that means more buyers and middlemen for their videos, and it’s a good reminder to read licensing and syndication terms carefully before signing over rights to a catalog.
Image: AI-generated illustration.
