H.I.G. Capital Buys Jake Rosen Entertainment to Build Creator Roll-Up

By Olivia Hart

H.I.G. Capital, an investment firm with $76 billion under management, has launched a creator-economy acquisition platform called Waveborn and bought its first target: the talent management firm Jake Rosen Entertainment. Financial terms were not disclosed. The deal runs through H.I.G. Small-Cap & Growth, one of the firm's arms.

The strategy is a roll-up. Waveborn plans to buy companies across three segments of the creator ecosystem: brand relationships, content production, and creator monetization. Neither side revealed how much capital sits behind the effort. The model they cite is Whalar Group, which spanned an agency, talent management and influencer-tech businesses and carried a $400 million valuation in 2025 before selling its agency to Accenture Song earlier this year.

The market pull is real. US creator ad spending has grown four times as fast as media overall and is set to reach $44 billion this year, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau. Even so, a valuation benchmark and an ad-spend forecast are not revenues; neither H.I.G. nor JRE published figures on what the business actually earns.

Why start with a talent agency?

Eric Tencer, managing director of H.I.G. Growth, said the IAB data plus personal observation built his conviction in the sector. "I've got a 10th grader and a 7th grader at home, and I've been fighting a losing battle around, 'Why don't you just watch normal TV or movies,' and they go straight to TikTok and Instagram," he said.

H.I.G. Capital's diagnosis: the ecosystem serving brands and creators is fragmented, while creators themselves are building increasingly complex companies that demand more outside expertise. Tencer said the firm picked a talent management agency first because putting creators at the core would shape the growth road map. Waveborn intends to acquire complementary businesses that bolt onto JRE, expanding services for its roster of 400 mid-tier to macro lifestyle creators.

Jake Rosen, who founded the 25-employee agency in 2019, framed retention as the test: "I never want one of our creators to leave us for a different agency because they say, 'I want to go to them because you're not able to offer X services."

Is the mid-tier creator market the prize?

Rosen argues the middle of the market is where brands get the best risk balance. "A lot of brands on the high side do not want to risk their entire budget on one mega creator," he said. "On the other end, yes, a lot of people are seeing success with micro, smaller creators, but it's a lot on the brand and agency to have 100 creators on a campaign."

That is a founder's pitch, not independent data. The claim that mid-tier creators outperform on cost-per-outcome is plausible but unverified in the deal announcement.

What does the deal say about private equity's role?

PE firms are still a small but growing slice of creator-economy funding. James Creech, founder of the advisory firm Quartermast — which was not involved in the JRE deal — said the pattern is private equity backing or creating acquirers such as Fixated, funded by Eldridge Industries, and Wonderloom Media, backed by Content Partners. H.I.G.'s approach fits that mold.

Creator companies have not traditionally met private equity's size thresholds, and strategic buyers like ad holding companies and talent agencies have often outbid financial firms for these assets. Rosen said that when he started a sales process earlier this year, corporate buyers he spoke with wanted JRE to adapt to their processes, while the PE route let him stay active in future M&A and the agency's growth.

"Having a seat at the table, and to be able to have that voice for the future, was something that was really important to me," Rosen said.

Creech expects more deals like this one. "Other private equities have the same thesis," he said. "There are growth equity players who want to buy a core business, put in more capital to fuel expansion. It reflects the continued maturation of the space."

The numbers support the momentum claim. Quartermast Advisors counts 118 creator-economy deals so far in 2026, against 93 in all of 2025 — roughly a 27% increase with the year not yet over. In plain terms: if H.I.G. can integrate acquisitions around JRE's 400-creator roster faster than rivals, Waveborn becomes the template financial buyers copy next.