Joe Marchese on Human Ventures' Success in the Face of AI

A huge amount of investment capital is being poured into artificial intelligence. OpenAI is planning an IPO that would value the company at about $1 trillion, while rival Anthropic is looking to raise $65 billion, which would leave it with a valuation of $965 billion. And then there’s Elon Musk’s gigantic SpaceX IPO, which includes Grok. It went public today after an initial price of $135, making it the biggest IPO in history (shares were off in early trading).

AI is a transformative technology that is already disrupting every activity and industry, and you’re seeing those changes ripples through the media and entertainment businesses.

The technology is already changing the way content is produced, distributed and discovered, creating opportunities for some and unemployment for many others.

Human Ventures, an investment company started in 2015 by Heather Hartnett and former Fox Networks advertising sales head Joe Marchese, is making investments in the activities that AI makes more valuable. Human Ventures raised a $50 million investment fund in 2024. Nearly all of those dollars have been invested and Marchese said he’ll probably be going back for more funding later this year.

Marchese is a director of traditional media companies including Clear Channel Outdoor and Cox Media Group, but that’s unlikely to be his focus as he looks ahead.

When it comes to the big media companies, the investment world is focused on the ongoing saga of the Ellisons’ Paramount Skydance and its efforts to close its proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. More on that below.

Thanks for reading.

Jon Lafayette

P.S.: Send your tips and pitches to jon.lafayette@thewrap.com.

THE DEEP DIVE

Joe Marchese, founder of Human Ventures and former Fox Networks advertising executive (Credit: Human Ventures)

A Former Fox Exec on Investing in Human Terms

Calling your investment company Human Ventures in a world driven by technology and artificial intelligence is saying something.

Originally, Human was a term founders Joe Marchese and Heather Hartnett would throw around when they encountered someone the other should meet. “It was a code,” Marchese told The Ledger. “This person’s a good human.”

Since then, the notion of “human” has evolved into a filter for the company. “The thesis is that everything that AI can measure and uptime and understand will be taken care of by tech,” Marchese said. “Everything AI cannot understand, human relationships, brand trust, all of these things, are undervalued right now and will become exponentially more important.”

Human Ventures is making bets on the kind of in-person experiences and services that AI can never replicate.
With so much focus on digital media, Marchese is bullish on live events and even the restaurant industry.
A majority of his investments are in the New York area, where Human Ventures is based

Human invests in startups at the earliest phase, usually providing businesses with their first capital. Beyond seed money, Human provides its portfolio companies with a network of founders and executives from larger businesses that meet at gatherings 50 times a year that run from poker nights to NBA playoff game watch parties.

Marchese touts the myriad of meet-ups that the companies in his portfolio have access to, including its Human Attention Summit in April. (Credit: Human Ventures)

“We promise the founder the most networked capital you can get at this stage,” Marchese said. “The founder understands that the network is going to be the value. The other thing is obviously, we have a lot of ties to the advertising and marketing world.”

Human is also asking founders for human-sized growth and returns. “We want to build good businesses. It doesn’t have to be boom or bust,” he said.

During his time as head of advertising sales at Fox, Marchese was an evangelist for the idea of the attention economy. (One of Human’s earlier investments was in Adelaide, a company that measures attention.)

When it comes to screens, algorithms have taken over much of the decision making about attention, he argued. What’s undervalued is live events.

Human invested in the Series A funding for Breakaway in 2023, and this year was part of a $30 million Series B funding round for the company, which operates a large touring music festival. “It is Gen Z and younger people going out to do things in the physical world. A great business.”

It could also be the foundation of a youth-focused media business someday.

Other investors also see value in live businesses that won’t be replaced or disrupted by AI. For example, Barry Diller announced earlier this month he was looking to buy a controlling stake in MGM.

Human also led a $2.4 million seed funding for Caper, which reports on the restaurant and hospitality business, another in-person activity. “It’s not about what’s on the plate,” Marchese said. “So much business gets done in the world of hospitality, so that’s very interesting to us.”

Another part of human’s portfolio is Kinema, which created a self-distribution platform for movies. “It is to the film world what Substack or Beehiiv is to the writing world,” Marchese said.

New York, New York

Human is based in Manhattan’s Flatiron District and Marchese estimates that 60% to 70% of its investments are New York-based. “There’s media, advertising, finance and hospitality here. Our network makes sense helping those businesses,” he said.

Marchese doesn’t see himself getting involved with the traditional media business until a new business model emerges for long-form mass-market content. “No one on the content side wants my opinion of what to make,” he said.

In addition to its venture capital fund, Human has a business-building studio designed to turn early-stage ideas into companies that are ready to launch and an event business. It recently hosted its first Human Attention Summit, with about 200 CEOs and CMOs talking about the business of human attention in the age of AI.

It is also working on human.ai, an initiative designed to connect people in physical spaces.

Marchese said Human has made 10 to 12 investments this year and is now nearly done with the $50 million fund it launched in 2024. Another fund is being planned.

“We’re thinking about what types of businesses we want to build and invest in. That will be coming in the second half of the year,” he said.

DEAL SHEET

Creative Artists Agency and Integrated Media Co. said they plan to launch a holding company that will invest $250 million in businesses spawned from creators on YouTube and TikTok. CAA exec Tucker Brown will be managing director of the company, called Compound Creative Holdings. Integrated Media is an investment firm backed by private equity investor TPG.
Bending Spoons, the Italian tech company that acquired Vimeo, AOL, Brightcove and Eventbrite, filed to go public on Nasdaq. It also plans to raise $1.5 billion in capital, which would value the company at $20 billion. Last year, Bending Spoons raised $710 million from Cox Enterprises, T. Rowe Price and Baillie Gifford, valuing the company at $11 billion.
Accenture agreed to buy social and creator media agency Whalar from Whalar Group. Financial terms were not disclosed. Whalar will become part of Accenture Song, giving it more scale in the fast-growing creator and influencer business. Whalar has overseen $600 million in creator campaigns for clients including the NFL, Uber and Ikea.

WRAP 20 INDEX

Here’s how the companies in our Wrap 20 Index performed this week.

FINANCIAL ROUNDUP

Paramount-WBD Watch

The wheels continue to turn as Larry and David Ellison try to close their acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. Some developments this week:

Regulators in the European Union are investigating the funding for Paramount Skydance’s $111 billion offer for Warner Bros. Discovery that is coming from sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
The proposed Paramount-WBD merger was approved by regulators in Australia and New Zealand, who said the deal is unlikely to “substantially” lessen competition in the theatrical release market in those regions. The agreement has also passed muster in countries including Saudi Arabia, Ukraine and Serbia.
Lawyers from Paramount claimed the company’s First Amendment rights in response to a lawsuit seeking an injunction against the combination with WBD. While there is concern that Paramount is coloring news coverage to please the Trump administration, Paramount argues that looking at newsroom decision-making should not be part of an antitrust review.
Paramount sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice accusing Netflix of running a “scorched-earth campaign” and poisoning regulators against the pending merger. Netflix called the claims “absurd.”
State attorneys general from about 10 states are reportedly working on a lawsuit aimed at blocking the Paramount-WBD deal. Previously, attorneys general sued to halt Nexstar’s acquisition of Tegna and won an injunction stalling the combination of the companies.

Paramount stock closed up 1.8% to $10.49 on Thursday. WBD finished up 2.4% to $26.86.