Why work with brands like Hollister and Dunkin’ Donuts when you can just sell your own clothes and coffee?
For most influencers, that’s not a serious consideration — you need quite a bit of capital and a dedicated audience to churn out high-quality products that sell well. But the D’Amelio family aren’t just any social media personalities. Powered by top-earning TikTokers Charli and Dixie D’Amelio — who made nearly $30 million combined last year — the D’Amelio family is launching D’Amelio Brands.
D’Amelio Brands will bring the famous family, which includes parents Marc and Heidi, into product development. Instead of sponsoring other companies’ products, they plan to make their own fashion, beauty and lifestyle items. The company is launching with $6 million in seed money, appointing Richard Rosenblatt — also an investor — as co-founder. According to LinkedIn, Rosenblatt is a board member at Cameo and co-chairman of Tom Brady’s Autograph, a celebrity NFT platform. He was also apparently chairman of MySpace in 2004, a time before Charli and Dixie could even use the social internet.
Like most social media personalities, the D’Amelios know that the lifecycle of an influencer doesn’t last forever, even if you’re one of the biggest stars of them all.
“We know nothing lasts forever — there’s going to be ups and downs,” Charli D’Amelio told Forbes. But it seems that the family is trying to stretch their fame and money as far as possible by capitalizing on their popularity in the moment.
The D’Amelios have already delved into entrepreneurship to turn their fame into what they hope will be a long-term source of wealth. The family has backed the social app suite Lightricks, in which they hold equity, as well as Step, a teen-focused banking service. They even launched a venture capital fund called 444 Capital with a $25 million fund targeting high-growth startups.
Other investors in D’Amelio Brands include Apple SVP Eddy Cue, Lions Gate CEO Jon Feltheimer, Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin, Clothia CEO Elena Silenok and others.
Charli and Dixie D’Amelio’s TikTok famous family expands its empire by Amanda Silberling originally published on TechCrunch
