Private Equity Is Buying the People Who Manage Creators

H.I.G.’s new Waveborn platform and Entertainment 360’s Brigade deal point to talent management as the creator economy’s next consolidation play.

Vault Editorial

November 13, 2026

1–2 minutes

H.I.G.’s new Waveborn platform and Entertainment 360’s Brigade deal point to talent management as the creator economy’s next consolidation play.

The money in the creator economy is moving up the chain, from the creators to the people who run their careers. Private equity firm H.I.G. Capital, through its small-cap and growth arm, has formed Waveborn, a vehicle for buying creator-economy businesses, with talent manager Jake Rosen Entertainment as its first piece, ContentGrip reported on Friday.

Terms were not disclosed. ContentGrip puts JRE’s roster at about 400 lifestyle creators and cites Business Insider describing it as a 25-person firm founded in 2019. Rosen has stayed involved. Waveborn plans further purchases across brand partnerships, production and creator monetization.

The same week, Los Angeles management company Entertainment 360 acquired Brigade, a firm that represents Substack writers, podcasters and influencers, Net Influencer reported. Brigade founder Max Stein becomes a partner and brings his team and clients, including Emily Sundberg of “Feed Me” and the hosts of “How Long Gone.” No price was disclosed there either.

Buyers are chasing a growing pool of ad money. The IAB projects U.S. creator ad spend will reach $44 billion in 2026, after a projected $37 billion in 2025 that was up 26% from the year before. Deal volume has followed. Quartermast Advisors counted 70 creator-economy acquisitions in the first half of 2026, up 23% from a year earlier and the strongest first half it has tracked, Net Influencer reported in July. Talent management made up 14.3% of that volume.

Quartermast projected more than 100 deals would close by year-end. Neither of this week’s buyers put a price on its purchase. Waveborn’s next deal, and whether H.I.G. ever says what it paid, will show how richly investors value the managers rather than the talent.