WTSL, the Silver Lake-backed firm led by Patrick Whitesell, has made a strategic investment in Alex Cooper’s Unwell media company.
The exact figure was not disclosed, but the funding values the business, which includes Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast and other media, at $500 million. The plan is to use the investment to grow the company, including through acquisition.
“Trust has become the ultimate distribution channel and seventy million women a month tune-into Unwell,” Cooper said. “We’re scaling on all fronts, combining nimbleness, social-first premium content, and our understanding of culture to serve this highly influential audience. With WTSL’s backing, the company is now also poised to accelerate our media platform’s growth through acquisitions and investments.”
WTSL, which is led by Whitesell and Jason Lublin with clients including Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions, will also lend expertise and industry relationships. This is the first outside investment the company has taken, a person familiar with the matter tells The Hollywood Reporter. Unwell has been profitable for the past three years since it launched, this source says.
“Alex, Matt, and the team have demonstrated an exceptional ability to anticipate where audiences are headed and create entertainment experiences that resonate deeply,” Whitesell said. “The company’s growth, audience connection, and cultural relevance set it apart, and we believe Unwell is uniquely positioned to help define the present and future of media.”
Cooper founded Unwell with her husband, Matt Kaplan in 2023. In addition to Cooper’s top-charting show and several other podcasts, including Madeline Argy’s Pretty Lonesome, the company includes branded merchandise and beverages, live events and a film and TV production arm that includes projects such as the documentary Call Her Alex, dating reality series Love Overboard and Let’s Marry Harry, and the Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special. All ventures are focused on a Gen Z audience.
Unwell has also struck a number of partnerships, including a multiyear creative and media partnership with Google, which also coincided with the launch of the company’s own advertising agency, The Unwell Creative Agency. Cooper also struck a $125 million deal with SiriusXM for Call Her Daddy and her podcast network.
The company has met some controversy recently, after Bloomberg and Vanity Fair both reported claims about staff turnover and uneasiness among the staff.
