Unwell, the media company co-founded by “Call Her Daddy” podcast host Alex Cooper and her husband, Matt Kaplan, has landed its first outside investment, a deal that values the Gen Z-focused media business at $500 million.
The investment comes from WTSL, an investment firm led by Patrick Whitesell, the co-founder of talent agency WME and former executive chairman of its successor company, Endeavor. WTSL, which Whitesell launched in 2024 with backing from private equity firm Silver Lake, did not disclose the size of its investment in Unwell, though the deal establishes a $500 million pre-money valuation for the company, according to Unwell. Cooper and Kaplan, who self-funded Unwell since founding it in 2023, retain majority ownership of the business.
Unwell said the company has been profitable since its founding and is treating the new capital as growth funding rather than a lifeline. Beyond the money itself, Unwell said WTSL brings “deep strategic expertise, industry relationships and a proven track record of supporting some of the most innovative companies and storytellers in media,” pointing specifically to WTSL’s existing investment in Omaha Productions, the sports and entertainment company founded by former NFL quarterback Peyton Manning. WTSL’s broader portfolio also includes Diamond Baseball Holdings, InterPositive, TMWR Sports and League One Volleyball.
Cooper framed the investment as validation of Unwell’s reach among its core audience. “Trust has become the ultimate distribution channel and 70 million women a month tune into Unwell,” Cooper said in a statement announcing the deal, adding that the company plans to keep “scaling on all fronts” by combining nimble, social-first content production with a deep understanding of its audience’s cultural interests. Cooper said the new backing positions Unwell to accelerate growth through acquisitions and additional investments going forward.
Advertisement
Whitesell, in his own statement, credited Cooper and Kaplan with an unusual ability to anticipate shifting audience behavior. “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, adding that the company’s growth, audience connection and cultural relevance made it well positioned to help shape the future of media.
The funding announcement lands just weeks after a pair of media investigations detailed allegations of workplace dysfunction at Unwell. A June Vanity Fair investigation, based on interviews with more than 40 current and former employees and freelancers, included allegations from one freelancer who said Kaplan “creates the most toxic work environment that I’ve ever seen,” along with anonymous claims that Kaplan had questioned employees about their personal lives and commented on their physical appearance. A separate Bloomberg report in April said Kaplan had developed a reputation for frequently yelling at staff members and that some employees were “looking for the exit.”
Cooper addressed the allegations directly in a Wall Street Journal interview at the Cannes Lions festival in June, pushing back without directly denying specific claims. “I will just kind of leave it at ‘Don’t believe everything that you read on the internet,’” Cooper said, adding that she believed being a woman in the media industry brings added scrutiny. “I think, unfortunately, being a woman in this industry is extremely difficult because you’re held to a completely different standard,” she said, pointing to what she described as smear campaigns tied to competing narratives. Cooper has separately told Marie Claire that she and Kaplan work to foster what she called a “very positive and safe” environment for employees at the company.
Unwell has also weathered a series of public disputes tied to its podcast talent roster. Influencer Alix Earle’s “Hot Mess” podcast left Unwell’s network in 2025 amid what Cooper has described as “fake drama” stirred up by Earle, though Earle has not publicly detailed her reasons for departing. Cooper’s earlier, high-profile split from former “Call Her Daddy” co-host Sofia Franklyn also drew significant public attention in the years before Unwell’s founding.
Advertisement
Kaplan, who separately founded ACE Entertainment, the production company behind Netflix’s “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” franchise and the series “XO, Kitty,” said the company’s creator-driven approach has become increasingly attractive to major brands. “As the premier media company for women, we’re collaborating with some of the biggest brands in the world on creator-led strategies,” Kaplan said in a statement, arguing that traditional advertising alone no longer reaches fragmented audiences the way a platform built around trusted creators can.
Unwell says its audience skews heavily female, at 89%, with 72% of that audience between the ages of 18 and 35. The company reports nearly 100 million followers across its platforms and says it generated more than 1.7 trillion earned media impressions in 2025 alone. Its podcast network spans more than a dozen shows, supported by a significant partnership with SiriusXM, which signed Cooper to a three-year deal in 2024 worth as much as $125 million over the life of the agreement.
Beyond podcasting, Unwell has expanded into scripted and unscripted television, producing the “Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special” for Disney+, partnering with Peacock on live Paris Olympics programming, and launching the reality series “Love Overboard” with Hulu. The company also has a slate of projects with Netflix, including “Let’s Marry Harry” and “Icebreaker,” both set to begin shooting this fall, alongside a growing portfolio of YouTube-native series announced earlier this year at the platform’s Brandcast event. Unwell’s business extends further still into live events, including nationwide tours, spring break experiences and SXSW activations that the company says have drawn more than 150,000 attendees in person, as well as a consumer products line spanning energy drinks, hydration products and stick packs.
With its first outside capital now secured, Unwell’s leadership has signaled the company intends to pursue acquisitions and additional investments as it works to expand well beyond its podcasting roots into a broader, diversified media and consumer products company.
GoodRx President and CEO Wendy Barnes discusses the companys partnership with TrumpRx on The Claman Countdown.
A group of nine pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) announced Thursday that they will work with an industry group to boost the transparency of prescription drug pricing through the TrumpRx platform.
FOX Business exclusively learned that the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) and nine PBMs reached an agreement to showcase the cash price of prescriptions from TrumpRx within their benefit tools. The agreement aims to give patients better visibility into the cost of the medication and how they might save money on it.
Advertisement
“President Trump has made lowering prescription drug costs for Americans a priority, and this commitment is a step in the right direction,” CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz told FOX Business.
“By making negotiated drug prices available alongside cash prices on TrumpRx, this agreement will give patients greater visibility into how much they’re paying and help them find the best possible deal,” Oz explained. “That’s the kind of transparency we need to boost competition, drive down costs, and deliver better value for American patients.”
The arrangement will list cash prices on TrumpRx alongside the plan benefit price for the same prescription at an in-network pharmacy. (Lindsey Nicholson/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
The nine major PBMs that are participating include CarelonRx, CVS Health, Express Scripts, Humana, MedImpact Healthcare Systems, Navitus Health Solutions, OptumRx, Prime Therapeutics and WellDyne. Another PBM, VytlOne, is also joining the effort.
Advertisement
Patients will be able to see TrumpRx prices if they’re enrolled in plans from those PBMs, including commercial, Medicare and Medicaid plans. The arrangement will cover all drugs that have a price on TrumpRx – either a presidential deal or a standard price.
CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz said the deal will boost price transparency for consumers. (Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“Consumers and patients are better off when they have more options and a clear view of their costs,” said PCMA CEO David Marin. “If there are times when a product is cheapest on TrumpRx, patients should know that. This administration has embraced the use of real-time benefit tools to give patients more information, and we strongly embrace this technology.”
“This commitment will allow consumers to compare options and make better informed choices about costs and where they access prescription drugs. It’s a no-brainer for our industry and for American families,” Marin added.
The Trump administration launched the TrumpRx website earlier this year. (Pool / Fox News)
PCMA noted that the nine PBMs participating in this announcement are expected to provide price transparency on their benefit platforms, though some may do so in other ways.
Some of the PBMs will use their Real Time Benefit Tools to display the cash price available on TrumpRx compared with the cost of the prescription through their plan’s coverage benefit at a network pharmacy, while others may pull in the TrumpRx pricing using other methods.
Shein has lost its High Court claim against rival Temu over the alleged copyright infringement of photographs of its clothing, with Judge Kelyn Bacon ruling on Thursday that the online fast-fashion group’s claims had failed.
The case, which went to trial in London in May, centred on product photographs that Shein said had been used on Temu’s platform to advertise copies of Shein’s own-brand clothing. Shein accused Temu of breaching its copyright “on an industrial scale” and of using the images to “piggy-back” on a more established competitor.
Temu, which is owned by PDD Holdings, denied the allegations and argued that Shein was using litigation to stifle competition.
In her written ruling, Judge Bacon rejected Shein’s argument that Temu had authorised infringement by the third-party merchants who uploaded the photographs to its website, noting that Temu “prohibits merchants from uploading infringing content”. Shein did not pursue a separate argument that Temu had itself reproduced the photographs, the judge said, because Temu’s servers are located outside the United Kingdom.
The judge also found that, even if infringement had been established, Temu could have relied on the hosting defence, which shields online platforms acting as intermediaries from liability for content uploaded by third parties where they lack knowledge of the infringement.
Advertisement
“In so far as any infringements could be established in this case, Temu did not have either actual knowledge of the infringements or awareness of facts or circumstances from which the infringements would have been apparent,” Judge Bacon said.
A Shein spokesperson said there was no dispute that Shein owned the thousands of photographs it had sued over, or that they had appeared on Temu’s website. “Yet despite copying on an industrial scale, it has avoided liability in the UK simply because the servers supporting its UK website happen to sit in Ireland,” the spokesperson said.
Elise Cant, associate and trade mark attorney at intellectual property firm Marks & Clerk, said the court had found Temu’s role in relation to the use of the photographs to be of a “mere technical, automatic and passive nature”.
“The decision is likely to be welcomed by market-place based retailers although traditional retailers may view it less favourably,” Cant said. “It provides greater legal certainty for online marketplaces by confirming that platforms such as Temu which play a passive intermediary role in the advertisement and sale of goods on their website are less likely to face liability for infringing content uploaded by third-party sellers.”
Advertisement
Cant added that the ruling “may make it more difficult for traditional retailers and rights holders to pursue infringement claims against marketplace operators where infringing product listings are uploaded by independent sellers, potentially shifting the focus of enforcement efforts towards the sellers themselves rather than the platforms that host their listings”.
Valero Energy (VLO) stock continues to hit record highs and was recently added to Investor’s Business Daily’s Big Cap 20 index of leading large-cap growth stocks. Traders might consider taking some bullish exposure on Valero with a low-risk option trade. One way to do that is with a bullish butterfly spread. Butterfly spreads involve three different option strikes, all within…
Yes. Corporate subscriptions are available for teams and organisations, with discounted rates as user numbers increase. Pricing starts from $1,625 + GST per user. Get in touch
to discuss the right option for your organisation.
Business News subscriptions are used by executives, investors, consultants and professionals who need to stay informed and make better decisions about the WA market. When you subscribe you’ll get
Unlimited access to WA’s most trusted business journalism
Data & Insights — detailed profiles of WA companies, people, projects and deals
MyBN — a personalised feed based on the companies, people and sectors you follow
Special publications and industry reports
Daily and weekly email newsletters
Data & Insights is a research tool built specifically for the WA market. It draws on more than 30 years of Business News reporting, updated regularly to reflect what’s happening now. Use it to:
Look up detailed profiles of WA companies, including financials, directors and ownership
Find decision-makers and track their career movements
Research live and completed projects across WA industries
Monitor deals, appointments and market activity
Access industry rankings and league tables
Data & Insights is updated daily by our dedicated research team, which uses the latest announcements, ASX filings and editorial coverage to keep our person, company, list and project records up to date.
Business News welcome all opportunities to make our dataset accurate, complete and current, so if you have an update request, please email the team at general@businessnews.com.au, and we’d be happy to assist.
Advertisement
MyBN
is part of every subscription. It’s your personalised view of Business News. You can follow the companies, people, sectors and projects that matter to you, and get a news feed and alerts tailored to your interests. You can save articles to read later and retain only what you need.
Only subscribers have full access to all content on the Business News website.
Advertisement
If staying informed about the WA economy is part of your job, and/or you’re looking for networking opportunities in WA, Business News is built for you.
Business News subscribers are:
Executives and directors tracking competitors, clients and market movements
Investors and advisers researching companies, deals and industry trends
Consultants and professionals staying across sectors relevant to their clients
Business owners looking for leads, context and market intelligence
Most Business News publications cover national or global markets. Business News is focused entirely on Western Australia, which means the journalism, the data and the intelligence are all built around WA companies, people and projects — not adapted from a national feed. Data & Insights, included with every subscription, combines more than 30 years of WA-specific editorial research with live business data. There’s no comparable product for the WA market.
Advertisement
The Morning Digest Email provides a comprehensive wrap of the major headlines, relevant to WA business, and includes with a snapshot of the overnight news covering oil, gold and ASX-listed companies.
The Afternoon Wrap Email focuses on the news covered by our team of journalists during the course of the working day, including exclusive stories and analysis, all of which relates to WA business and the local economy.
The BN Weekender Email contains a wrap of the Business News from the week that was, highlighting the top stories in each area of WA business. Sign up for free.
Advertisement
We’re happy to help. Get in touch
and our team will come back to you.
Yes. Corporate subscriptions are available for teams and organisations, with discounted rates as user numbers increase. Pricing starts from $1,625 + GST per user. Get in touch
to discuss the right option for your organisation.
Business News subscriptions are used by executives, investors, consultants and professionals who need to stay informed and make better decisions about the WA market. When you subscribe you’ll get
Unlimited access to WA’s most trusted business journalism
Data & Insights — detailed profiles of WA companies, people, projects and deals
MyBN — a personalised feed based on the companies, people and sectors you follow
Special publications and industry reports
Daily and weekly email newsletters
Data & Insights is a research tool built specifically for the WA market. It draws on more than 30 years of Business News reporting, updated regularly to reflect what’s happening now. Use it to:
Look up detailed profiles of WA companies, including financials, directors and ownership
Find decision-makers and track their career movements
Research live and completed projects across WA industries
Monitor deals, appointments and market activity
Access industry rankings and league tables
Data & Insights is updated daily by our dedicated research team, which uses the latest announcements, ASX filings and editorial coverage to keep our person, company, list and project records up to date.
Business News welcome all opportunities to make our dataset accurate, complete and current, so if you have an update request, please email the team at general@businessnews.com.au, and we’d be happy to assist.
Advertisement
MyBN
is part of every subscription. It’s your personalised view of Business News. You can follow the companies, people, sectors and projects that matter to you, and get a news feed and alerts tailored to your interests. You can save articles to read later and retain only what you need.
Only subscribers have full access to all content on the Business News website.
Advertisement
If staying informed about the WA economy is part of your job, and/or you’re looking for networking opportunities in WA, Business News is built for you.
Business News subscribers are:
Executives and directors tracking competitors, clients and market movements
Investors and advisers researching companies, deals and industry trends
Consultants and professionals staying across sectors relevant to their clients
Business owners looking for leads, context and market intelligence
Most Business News publications cover national or global markets. Business News is focused entirely on Western Australia, which means the journalism, the data and the intelligence are all built around WA companies, people and projects — not adapted from a national feed. Data & Insights, included with every subscription, combines more than 30 years of WA-specific editorial research with live business data. There’s no comparable product for the WA market.
Advertisement
The Morning Digest Email provides a comprehensive wrap of the major headlines, relevant to WA business, and includes with a snapshot of the overnight news covering oil, gold and ASX-listed companies.
The Afternoon Wrap Email focuses on the news covered by our team of journalists during the course of the working day, including exclusive stories and analysis, all of which relates to WA business and the local economy.
The BN Weekender Email contains a wrap of the Business News from the week that was, highlighting the top stories in each area of WA business. Sign up for free.
Advertisement
We’re happy to help. Get in touch
and our team will come back to you.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) reported fiscal fourth quarter earnings and revenue that topped estimates as artificial intelligence-related product orders accelerated. The company’s fiscal 2027 sales outlook for Cisco stock came in above expectations. CSCO stock fell on Thursday amid a big run-up in 2026 and high expectations. The computer networking gear maker released earnings after the market close on Wednesday. For…
Boss says ‘We built our first decade in Manchester, and we’re building the next one here too’
Dawid Jaworski, EMEA Lead at Mitti(Image: Mitti)
One of Manchester’s best-known tech employers has a new name after a decade in the city.
Health and safety software specialist SafetyCulture was founded by Luke Anear in a garage in Queensland moved into Manchester in 2016 and two years ago opened a larger base in Mosley Street.
Now the business has rebranded as Mitti as it looks to move beyond its focus on safety management systems to offer an “all-in-one operations system” for frontline workers, and looks to expand its AI offering.
The company says the name Mitti refers to the middle – “the centre of an operation, where decisions get made, and work happens”. It says the name reflects its push to make software connecting frontline workers with those in the boardroom.
Advertisement
Mitti works with companies that employ many people “who don’t sit at a desk”, in sectors including manufacturing, construction and retail, with its software collecting information from those workers in the field.
During its decade in the UK its customer base has reached 18,000 organisations, including Unilever, H&M, Domino’s Pizza, and Network Rail. North West customers include Bury structural steelwork firm William Hare, which has completed more than 180,000 inspections on the platform in a move that Mitti says has saved it over a million sheets of paper.
Dawid Jaworski, EMEA lead at Mitti, said the firm’s platform sees 3.4 million images and 380,000 inspections added every day.
He added: “Ten years ago we were a handful of people in a small Manchester office trying to convince businesses that the clipboard had had its day. A decade on, this city is the base from which we serve the entire EMEA region.
Advertisement
The open-plan office with colourful company posters at the SafetyCulture office in Mosley Street, Manchester, in 2024(Image: Paul Adams)
“The customers we serve are the industries this region was built on. That proximity matters. Being surrounded by it keeps us honest about who we’re building for.
“The city has grown up alongside us. Manchester is now the UK’s largest tech economy outside London with more than 10,000 tech businesses operating here. We built our first decade in Manchester, and we’re building the next one here too.”
BusinessLive visited the then SafetyCulture office in 2024 for its opening. Amenities for staff included an in-house chef, a bar, a games room and a purple pool table.
.webp?t=1786637126)
You must be logged in to post a comment Login