One of Europe’s biggest influencer marketing agencies is buying its way into two new cities. According to Net Influencer‘s Dragomir Stojkov, Paris-based YKONE took a minority stake in Tokyo creative and social media agency Lateam and bought Milan digital agency Digital Dust in late October, moves first reported by WWD.

A first step into Japan

The Lateam deal, announced October 30, is YKONE’s entry into the Japanese market, Net Influencer reports. Lateam will be renamed YKONE Tokyo, its founder Pablo Yano will stay on as chief executive, and YKONE plans to raise its stake to a majority over the next two years. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

YKONE founder and CEO Olivier Billon called Japan “one of the most powerful influence markets in the world” and said no international influencer marketing agency had established itself there yet. The new office adds to YKONE’s existing presence in Hong Kong, Shanghai and India, where it took a 70% stake in an agency called Barcode in 2024.

Doubling down on luxury in Milan

Digital Dust is a boutique agency founded in 2013 that has worked with beauty and luxury names including Lancôme, L’Oréal, Cartier and Chopard, according to Net Influencer. Its founders and CEO are staying with the business, and those deal terms were also kept private. Matteo Baldi, CEO of YKONE Europe, described Milan as “a global center for fashion, design, beauty and culture” and said Digital Dust’s beauty credentials add depth to the agency’s work in Italy.

Part of a bigger buying spree

The two deals follow a pattern. Net Influencer reports YKONE has spent years buying stakes in local leaders instead of opening offices from scratch, with past deals in Italy, Germany, France and Switzerland, and a luxury events company acquired this September. YKONE is part of One Group, a $200 million company formed in January when it merged with production house Mirror Mirror; WWD now puts the group at 480 employees across 21 cities, Net Influencer says.

It’s happening across the industry, too. Net Influencer points to advisory firm Quartermast Advisors, which counted 70 creator economy acquisitions in the first half of 2026, up 23% from a year earlier, with agencies making up about a fifth of the deals. Quartermast founder James Creech said buyers are now judging the creator economy “on fundamentals, not narrative.”

The takeaway

Agencies that sit between brands and creators are getting bigger and more global, and they’re doing it by buying local shops that already have the client lists. For creators, that can mean access to bigger international campaigns through one agency, but also fewer independent middlemen to shop around between when negotiating rates.

Image: AI-generated illustration.