The Chernin Group (TCG) Research
Investment Thesis
The Chernin Group is a preeminent growth equity firm singularly focused on investing in platforms and brands that shape culture. Founded in 2010 as a holding company and evolved into an investment firm (TCG), the firm partners with visionary founders and management teams who have created brands with passionate, loyal communities.
TCG's core thesis centers on identifying authentic, direct-to-consumer businesses with strong brand identities and engaged audiences. The firm invests in companies built on direct relationships—whether through subscriptions, digital communities, or content platforms. They believe in businesses that capture attention, spark passion, and create lasting cultural movements. The playbook remains consistent: strong brands, engaged audiences, and visionary founders pushing culture forward.
Stage Focus & Check Size
TCG operates as a growth equity investor, typically investing in growth-stage companies rather than early-stage. Based on portfolio analysis and recent activity, the firm targets:
- Primary stage: Growth/Late-stage equity investments (Series B+)
- Secondary stage: Some Seed and Series A in strategic areas
- Typical check size: $5M - $100M+ range, with significant follow-on capacity
- Lead tendency: Both leads and participates, with full operational engagement
- Fund size: Current fund (Fund II) closed in 2021 with $1.3B in commitments
Sector Focus
TCG has maintained unwavering focus on three core sectors: Sports, Media & Entertainment, and Passion-Driven Businesses. The primary sectors include sports (professional sports leagues, fitness, sports technology, sports media) with portfolio companies like Premier Lacrosse League, Unrivaled, Surfline, Classic Football Shirts, and Cars & Bids. Media and entertainment focuses on creator-led content, podcasts, streaming, and production, with companies like Audiochuck, Substack, Brat, Baobab Studios, MeatEater, and Goalhanger. Passion-driven businesses include consumer brands and platforms with engaged, loyal communities like Funko, Exploding Kittens, Cameo, Zola, Oura, and Lovevery.
Secondary and adjacent focus areas include the creator economy and platforms (Night, Cameo, Exploding Kittens), digital health and wellness (Headspace Health, Equip, Ro, Everlywell, Next Health, Parsley Health), lifestyle and consumer goods (The Sill, Vuori, Shinesty, Stoggles), and collectibles and fandom (Collectors with PSA/PCGS/WATA, Goldin Auctions, Hodinkee).
Recent Investment Activity
TCG remains actively deploying from Fund II. Recent notable investments include a January 2026 minority investment in Goalhanger (podcast/audio creator firm behind "The Rest Is" franchise), marking Goalhanger's first external capital. Throughout 2025, the firm completed multiple growth equity investments across its portfolio. As of December 31, 2025, TCG manages 100+ active portfolio companies with selective exits. Notable recent exits include Crunchyroll (to Sony), The Athletic (to ESPN), Barstool Sports (to ESPN/Disney partnership), and Hello Sunshine (to natural buyout).
Team & Operational Expertise
TCG is led by three exceptional co-founders with deep media and operations expertise: Peter Chernin (Co-founder & Managing Partner) was President and COO of News Corp and Chairman and CEO of Fox Group from 1996-2009, where he oversaw Avatar and Titanic as the top-grossing films and launched FX networks. He currently runs North Road Company (production studio with New Girl, Hidden Figures, Greatest Showman, Ford v Ferrari, Love is Blind, The Last Dance). Jesse Jacobs (Co-founder) was a senior member of Goldman Sachs' media and entertainment team, started in Fox Sports at inception, and serves on boards of major portfolio companies. Mike Kerns (Co-founder) was SVP at Yahoo!, founded Citizen Sports (acquired by Yahoo! in 2010), and brings deep digital media and consumer tech background.
The extended team includes 25+ professionals with diverse expertise. Greg Bettinelli (Partner) brings experience from Upfront Ventures (GOAT, Happy Returns, ThredUp), HauteLook CMO role, and Live Nation EVP. Maureen Sullivan (Partner) held President and COO positions at Heyday and Rent the Runway, with prior AOL President and Google experience. Lauren Goldberg (Partner, CCO, General Counsel) comes from Relativity Media and has been honored in Variety's Legal Impact Report. Mark Kamal (CFO) was VP of Monetization at Yahoo! with MIT and Berkeley engineering backgrounds. Andy Campion joined as Operating Partner in 2024 with 17+ years at Nike (COO, CFO, EVP roles) and 11+ years at Disney (SVP Corporate Development).
Geographic Footprint
TCG maintains offices across Los Angeles (headquarters), San Francisco, and New York, with selective international presence through CA Media (Asia Pacific focus).
Decision Process & Investment Approach
TCG operates with a partnership-based, hands-on operational involvement model. Peter Chernin leads as Managing Partner, with clear decision process and typical board seat involvement for material investments. The firm provides access to operational expertise, talent recruitment support, and strategic guidance. Growth equity timeframes typically result in 3-7 year holds. While warm introductions are beneficial, the firm operates through a strong network and can source directly. TCG prefers founders with authentic vision who have built something meaningful and need operational scale support, alongside teams with proven execution and passion for their category.
Anti-Thesis
TCG explicitly avoids purely financial plays without cultural significance, services businesses without defensible brand advantage, founders without authentic passion for their category, businesses without direct consumer relationships, and generic B2B software without cultural impact.
Notable Portfolio Highlights
Public and mature companies include Funko (leading pop culture collectibles), Zola (wedding registry and marketplace), Oura (smart ring health technology), SoundCloud (music streaming platform), and Flipboard (content discovery platform).
High-profile exits demonstrate TCG's track record: Crunchyroll achieved a $1.175B acquisition by Sony in 2021, Pandora was acquired by SiriusXM (~$3.5B with SXM), Scopely was acquired by Glu Mobile (later public), The Athletic was acquired by ESPN, Barstool Sports developed ESPN and Disney partnership, and Twitter benefited from TCG's early investment before its acquisition.
Recent and active growth stage companies include Collectors (PSA/PCGS/WATA for authentication and grading, growing marketplace), Lovevery (stage-based early learning system, expanding), Premier Lacrosse League (professional lacrosse league and sports rights holder), Audiochuck (premium podcast and audio content production), Headspace Health (mental healthcare platform), and Goalhanger (podcast creator network, January 2026 investment).
Culture & Values
TCG's stated values center on curiosity (following what's interesting and culturally significant), conviction (making bold, all-in bets on vision), authenticity (only investing in real, authentic cultural movements), levity (doing it all with sense of fun), and operational partnership (rolling up sleeves to help build). The firm explicitly maintains a low profile while letting portfolio company success tell the story.
Fund Status & Deployment
Current fund (Fund II) closed in 2021 with $1.3B+ in commitments. Deployment status is actively deploying, confirmed through Goalhanger investment in January 2026. Geographic distribution is primarily US (LA, SF, NYC) with some international presence through CA Media. The investor base features long-term LPs allowing patient capital allocation.
Competitive Positioning
TCG occupies a unique position combining operational excellence from Peter Chernin's media and entertainment expertise with growth equity rigor. The firm brings deep understanding of creator economy, fandom, and community-driven business models. TCG provides access to A-team operators across media, sports, and technology. The team demonstrates expertise in building and scaling beloved consumer brands and maintains deep connections across media, sports, technology, and entertainment industries.
Summary
The Chernin Group is a sophisticated, operator-led growth equity investor with a narrow, disciplined thesis: invest in platforms and brands that shape culture with passionate, loyal audiences. Backed by $1.3B in capital and led by veterans of Fox, Goldman Sachs, and digital media, TCG combines financial resources with deep operational expertise. The firm takes significant equity stakes in growing companies across sports, media, and consumer categories, bringing more than capital—bringing network, talent, strategic guidance, and authentic partnership with success evident in 100+ active companies from collectibles authentication to sports leagues to subscription platforms to mental health companies.