Creator talent giant DBA is buying a boutique management shop to help influencers build their own businesses

Aug 13, 2026 08:45 PM - 1 hour ago 2

V1sion Ventures laminitis Alina Benun alongside creator talent Rachel Wilson and Leigh Soriano.

V1sion Ventures laminitis Alina Benun alongside creator talent Rachel Wilson and Leigh Soriano. Kait McCarthy/John Nacion/Kristina Bumphrey/Getty Images

The creator talent juggernaut Digital Brand Architects is expanding its empire, portion of a activity of M&A successful the influencer space.

DBA is acquiring a boutique talent-management company, V1sion Ventures, founded by the contented creator Alina Benun, Business Insider tin exclusively report. The companies declined to disclose the position of the deal.

M&A activity has been picking up successful the creator space over the past fewer years arsenic companies for illustration Publicis Groupe and Accenture person snapped up influencer trading platforms and creator agencies, including Captiv8 and Whalar. US influencer trading walk is expected to transverse $12 cardinal this year, while social-media creator gross will transcend $20 billion, according to EMARKETER, Business Insider's sister company.

Benun group up V1sion Ventures successful 2022. Her thesis was that location was a spread successful the marketplace for creator management, peculiarly successful helping influencers diversify their gross streams and build their ain businesses. V1sion Ventures grew it into a seven-figure business successful its first year, the institution said.

V1sion Ventures' roster includes a operation of creators specified arsenic Instagram storyteller and manner creator Leigh Soriano, euphony creator Chelsea Jordan, and Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Zack Baun. Its talent will travel nether DBA's guidance aft the deal. Benun will subordinate the institution on pinch her squad of 3 talent managers and 2 different unit members.

"Our squad has spent years helping exceptional talent turn meaningful businesses, and being portion of DBA allows america to standard that growth," Benun said successful a statement.

DBA, which was acquired by United Talent Agency (UTA) successful 2019, has been acquisitive successful the past. In 2022, it bought the play trading and integer talent guidance company, Digital Golf Collective.

The institution said it was bringing connected V1sion Ventures to put successful creator entrepreneurship and to thief creators build brands and businesses extracurricular of societal media. (In 2015, DBA launched Digital Brand Products, a abstracted institution focused connected helping influencers waste merchandise and create their ain brands.)

"From the beginning, DBA has believed that creators are entrepreneurs who merit partners that tin thief them build enduring businesses," DBA's CEO Raina Penchansky said successful a statement. "Alina and the V1sion Ventures squad person built an awesome institution rooted successful those values."

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Dan is simply a analogous astatine Business Insider covering TikTok, YouTube, and the business of societal media.He writes astir really creators gain a surviving from societal apps, the soul workings of companies for illustration TikTok, and the galore ways that societal media is impacting Hollywood and different industries for illustration e-commerce, sports, music, and news.He antecedently wrote astir trading and entrepreneurship astatine Ad Age and Inc. Magazine. He was a McGraw Scholar successful business publicity astatine the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism astatine CUNY and a postgraduate of Middlebury College. Disclosure: Dan antecedently worked astatine the advertisement tech company, The Trade Desk, wherever he was granted banal arsenic portion of his compensation.

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