H.I.G. Small-Cap & Growth, the growth investment affiliate of private capital firm H.I.G. Capital, has formed Waveborn, a Creator Economy company that plans to expand by acquiring other businesses, and has bought New York creator management firm Jake Rosen Entertainment (JRE) as its first asset, according to a November 13 announcement from H.I.G.

Waveborn will combine talent management, brand relationships, content production and creator monetization in one company, H.I.G. said. “The creator economy is a rapidly growing ecosystem where brand dollars are finally catching up to attention and consumption,” said Eric Tencer, Managing Director at H.I.G. Growth. “Creators are displacing traditional media, and we’re designing Waveborn to provide more sophisticated offerings to creators and brands that support how the industry has evolved.” H.I.G. reports $76 billion of capital under management.

JRE gives Waveborn a roster of more than 400 exclusive creators with more than one billion combined followers across family, food, education, beauty and fashion, according to the announcement. The agency says it has completed more than 24,000 brand deals with companies such as Disney, Chipotle and McDonald’s, and that it averages nearly 100 new deals per week. It focuses on mid-tier to macro creators.

Rosen founded JRE in 2018. In March, Net Influencer profiled the agency’s Weight Watchers campaign, which generated close to 20 million views.

Rosen, who is identified in the release as CEO of JRE, said the deal brings scale without changing how the agency operates. “Joining the creator-focused Waveborn platform allows us both the scale to offer more capabilities than traditional talent management and the flexibility to continue operating with the nimbleness and creativity that the creator world is known for,” Rosen said.

Rosen started a sale process earlier this year and chose a private equity buyer in order to stay involved in future acquisitions, Business Insider reported. “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 told the outlet. JRE has 25 employees, according to the same report.

Investors Are Buying Creator Management Firms to Build Larger Companies

H.I.G. described the market it is entering as “a large and highly fragmented ecosystem of businesses serving creators, spanning talent representation, production, brand partnerships, payments, and other specialized services.” Its plan to assemble those services through acquisitions follows several similar moves this year.

H.I.G. and JRE cited Whalar Group as the type and scale of company they want to build, according to the same report. Whalar Group was valued at $400 million in a 2025 funding round and agreed in June to sell its creator agency to Accenture Song, while keeping its talent management firm and four other companies.

On November 3, private equity firm Velocity Capital Management took a stake in the merged creator agency LV8 and content network Mirage, and the combined company said it would also pursue acquisitions across marketing and the Creator Economy. In June, CAA and Integrated Media Company formed Compound Creative Holdings, a $250 million holding company set up to acquire and operate creator-led media businesses.

Talent management has drawn the same approach. Los Angeles holding company Reign Maker Group took a majority stake in Hyphen HQ in June, adding to a portfolio of five talent management companies. In April, Fixated acquired Studio71’s North American business from ProSiebenSat.1, which brought its combined roster to more than 1,000 creators.

Deal activity is at a record. Quartermast Advisors has counted 118 deals involving Creator Economy companies so far in 2026, compared with 93 in all of 2025, according to the same report. In the advisory firm’s annual report on 2025 deals, talent management firms accounted for 13.6% of acquisitions.

H.I.G. did not disclose what it paid for JRE, how much capital it has committed to Waveborn or who will lead the new company. It has not named any further acquisition targets.

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