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PowerPlant Partners Closes Third Fund at $330M
Kristin Snyder
Kristin Snyder is dot.LA's 2022/23 Editorial Fellow. She previously interned with Tiger Oak Media and led the arts section for UCLA's Daily Bruin.
PowerPlant Partners, a Los Angeles and San Francisco-based investment management firm, closed a $330 million fund.
With the final closing of PowerPlant Ventures III L.P. (PPV Fund III), the firm plans to expand its current focus on plant-based consumer food and beverage brands to incorporate consumer technology alongside service and enablement companies. Dan Gluck, PowerPlant co-managing partner, told dot.LA the firm still intends to back companies that center around human and planetary wellness.
“What we've announced is that as we grow as a firm, plant-based will always 100% be part of our DNA and be part of what we do,” Gluck said. “However, as we grow as a firm, we're seeing a lot more opportunities to broaden our scope of investments to focus on all businesses, consumer-facing as well as even backward in the supply chain, that are sustainable businesses that are furthering people and planetary health.”
As active investors, PPV Fund III plans to invest between $15 million and $40 million in each company. So far, it has invested in four. PowerPlant invested $40 million in a Series C round for Miyoko’s Creamery, which focuses on plant-based cheeses and butter. The other companies focus on beverages—Gluck said Santa Monica-based canned water company Liquid Death appeals to people who want the appearance of drinking an energy drink without the added sugar.
With their “death to plastic” and trendy aluminum cans which have made waves across social media platforms, Gluck said Liquid Death follows PowerPlant’s intent to better the planet. Additionally, he said Calgary-based Partake Brewing is rising in the non-alcoholic beer field as younger generations shift to healthier habits.
For its final investment, PowerPlant hand-crafted SYSTM Foods by acquiring and combining coffee company Chameleon Cold-Brew and beverage brand REBBL. PowerPlant was able to buy both companies at a discount, giving them the chance to create meaningful value, he said.
“There's a lot of companies out there,” he said. “We believe that there's a lot of synergies to be had by combining several brands. And, furthermore, part of that thesis was that there was going to be a period of market volatility where there was going to be a shakeout in the environment in the market where we would be able to acquire brands that are cheap.”
PowerPlant’s portfolio includes El Segundo-based Beyond Meat, a plant-based meat substitute producer, and Los Angeles-based Thrive Market, an organic food e-commerce retailer.
As PowerPlant plans to move into the consumer wellness space, the firm is moving away from investing in early-stage consumer businesses to funding growth-stage companies. All four PPV Fund III companies are growing quickly, he said, and the partners’ experience in scaling and exiting businesses can provide expertise for growing companies.
“What we know is that early stage consumer investing—it's tough, frankly, and we think there's just simply not enough moats for traditional consumer brands other than the brand itself,” he said. “We have really decided that the opportunity set from a financial perspective makes the most sense to be a bit more focused on growth.”
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Kristin Snyder
Kristin Snyder is dot.LA's 2022/23 Editorial Fellow. She previously interned with Tiger Oak Media and led the arts section for UCLA's Daily Bruin.
https://twitter.com/ksnyder_db
Employee By Day, Influencer By Night: The Rise Of Non-Professional Creators
08:00 AM | October 21, 2022
Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash
Anasofia Gomez spends her early mornings filming herself journaling, picking up coffee and getting ready for the day. By 9 a.m., she’s ready to start her full-time job as a social media marketer.
The Los Angeles-based creator is just one of the 53% of non-professional creators in the United States who maintain a full-time job while also creating monetized content. Colloquially speaking, Gomez is considered a micro-influencer—creators with followers that range from 1,000 to 100,000.
Gomez treats her content creation as a second job: she starts her day at 6 a.m. just to film her content, which often features her outfits and local recommendations, and ends her days at 11 p.m. by posting her daily video. This level of dedication has earned Gomez almost 38,000 TikTok followers and partnerships with brands like perfume company Dossier and FitOn—a fitness app.
Jon Davids, the CEO of influencer marketing company Influicity, says brands often partner with micro-influencers to create a larger volume of content. Similar to their partnerships with normal influencers, companies will send micro-influencers free products in exchange for a promotional video. Depending on the influencer, some companies will pay over $200 per video.
The difference, of course, is that since companies can pay micro-influencers less, they’ll get more content for their money. For example, he says a mega-influencer may charge $5,000 for one video, while companies can take that same budget and work with roughly 30 micro-influencers.
“You can get lots and lots and lots of content without paying massive amounts of money for it,” Davids says. “And, frankly, the supply is just there.”
But Gomez says the money is often inconsistent. A month-long deal can briefly boost her income, but that doesn’t guarantee a partnership for the upcoming months. The inconsistency isn’t without its benefits, however. Gomez says that since she doesn’t rely on these partnerships for income, she can be more particular about what companies she works with.
Gomez has even turned her micro-influencing, work-life balance into content. Her series documenting her attempts to make the most of her time outside of work has taken off. Gomez’s first video about her “promise to get off the couch and seize life” has over 10 thousand likes. As such, she’s since maintained a series of videos focused on how she uses her time outside of work.
In fact, the “5 to 9” trend, which features people showing off their detailed routines before and after work, often with homemade meals and elaborate skincare routines, can get creators thousands of views. Other micro-influencers highlight content specifically about their careers: lawyers translate legal jargon, nurses discuss their work hours and teachers share their classroom management strategies. Which is to say, for many non-professional creators, quitting their full-time job would likely alter their content and potentially alienate their audience.
To that end, Davids says, these niche communities, such as influencers who make content about engineering or waste management, are often where micro-influencers thrive.
“The micro-influencers that we have today really didn't exist five or six years ago,” Davids says. “People who had very, very small audiences on social weren’t doing it to have any kind of professional presence—they were just kind of creating content for their friends and family.”
Which is why, Davids adds, amateur content creators can actively engage their followers on a more personable level than many mega-influencers.
Nonetheless, Gomez has thought about pursuing content creation full-time. But, she finds that she enjoys the security her traditional job provides compared to the lack of financial consistency from her influencing endeavors.
“You just never know what the future is with social,” Gomez says. “I think you really do have to be in a really good place [financially] to be able to say, ‘I'm going to quit my job and just do content creation.’” Amen.
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Kristin Snyder
Kristin Snyder is dot.LA's 2022/23 Editorial Fellow. She previously interned with Tiger Oak Media and led the arts section for UCLA's Daily Bruin.
https://twitter.com/ksnyder_db
Influencers Get Access to Actors Union as the Internet Gains on TV Advertising
06:54 PM | February 11, 2021
Influencers paid to promote everything from Gucci to Dunkin' Donuts on TikTok, YouTube and other social media platforms could have union protections under a new agreement reached over the weekend with SAG-AFTRA.
The move from the union, which already represents 160,000 artists and media professionals, folds in artists from the multi-billion-dollar, social media-based influencer industry that has been eroding the power of television commercials and their stars.
The Screen Actors Guild-American Federal of Television and Radio Artists approved the agreement at its board meeting over the weekend, deeming "influencer-generated branded content" a type of advertising. The ads must have a video or audio element to fall under the pact, Backstage reported.
It's unclear just what the impact will be across the industry, where the line between influencer and celebrity has been blurred as celebrities such as Jennifer Aniston promote beauty products to her 36.2 million followers on Instagram to so-called "micro influencers" like fashion influencer Tonya Smith, who has 145,000 followers.
The agreement gives the union a line into a booming new world of advertising. Talent agencies have already picked up influencers they hope will go big. Major studios including Netflix have scouted actors for shows such as "Haters Back Off," which features YouTuber Colleen Ballinger. Brands are set to spend up to $15 billion on influencer marketing by 2022, according to a report from Mediakix.
The protections provide health and pension benefits and earn union income.
"Making it easier to cover this type of work has been a top priority for our organization. I want to commend the efforts of our staff in creating an agreement that will benefit SAG-AFTRA's current members as well as allowing all creators an opportunity to join the union. As new ways of storytelling emerge, it's imperative that we embrace and lift up these artists," SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris said in a news release.
The SAG AFTRA building on L.A.'s Wilshire Boulevard.
YouTubers had been covered by the union. The new agreement extends eligibility to influencers on all social media platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Twitch.
Influencers must also be incorporated and have a contractual agreement with an advertiser to promote products on its behalf, according to Backstage. There is no mandated contract minimum.
The growing social media marketing economy relies on individual contracts with top influencers like teen TikToker Charli D'Amelio, who earned at least $4 million in 2020, according to Forbes. Lesser-known influencers may receive free products or trips in exchange for posting videos on Instagram or other platforms.
Social media allows companies to target specific audiences with more precision than a television or radio commercial. As a result, the number of online influencers compensated to peddle products has shot up.
Backstage reported that there had been three and a half years of research and discussion within SAG-AFTRA about whether to admit influencers after several instances in which the union was approached by individuals for guidance as they negotiated contracts.
The union said more details will be forthcoming.
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Sarah Favot
Favot is an award-winning journalist and adjunct instructor at USC's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. She previously was an investigative and data reporter at national education news site The 74 and local news site LA School Report. She's also worked at the Los Angeles Daily News. She was a Livingston Award finalist in 2011 and holds a Master's degree in journalism from Boston University and BA from the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada.
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