Chernin’s TCG Raises $700 Million for New Fund After MeatEater Success

(Bloomberg) -- Steven Rinella, the hunting and fishing guru who hosts the Netflix Inc. show MeatEater, says you can't sell the joy of stalking and disemboweling a deer.

But Hollywood producer and financier Peter Chernin made a bet last year that fans of the show would be interested in buying the tools for getting the job done. That was the thesis behind his investment firm TCG's purchase last year of MeatEater Inc., Rinella's outdoor lifestyle company.

The MeatEater website has since grown into a one-stop shop for anyone interested in camo-clad living, offering everything from $30 hunting caps to free recipes for cooking cod tongues.

“Using content to drive commerce is one of the single biggest opportunities for direct-to-consumer businesses right now,” Chernin said in an interview.

TCG -- a venture capital and private equity affiliate of the Chernin Group -- aims to pursue more such opportunities with a new fund. The firm has raised $700 million in commitments, it announced in a letter Wednesday to investors.

To better implement its strategy, TCG has also become an investment firm, it said. It was previously a holding company.

Working with long-term partners, Jesse Jacobs and Mike Kerns, Chernin is building a stable of companies that have little in common on the surface but are underpinned by a conviction that content can drive retail sales.

“The theme of middle men and bundlers being disrupted by tech is something we saw a long time ago in music, then in traditional media,” Chernin said. “We are in the early innings of seeing how that same relationship between defined content and the people who are attracted to it is disrupting retail.”

Chernin, the former president and chief operating officer of News Corp., founded the Chernin Group in 2010 as an entertainment and media boutique. Its entertainment arm has produced hits including the movie “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” and sitcom “New Girl.”

“In the beginning, our focus and conviction were greatest in media,” Chernin, Jacobs and Kerns said in the investor letter. “Over time, we found that our thesis in media was transferable to what was occurring across all consumer industries –- from commerce and health and wellness, to gaming, consumer finance, and more.”

TCG's other investments include e-commerce brand Food52, which sold a majority stake to the firm for $83 million in September, according to a statement. Last month, tabletop game company Exploding Kittens announced a $30 million investment from TCG.

The firm has also worked with companies including Crunchyroll, Headspace and Barstool Sports, according to a statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ed Hammond in New York at ehammond12@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Liana Baker at lbaker75@bloomberg.net, Matthew Monks, Michael Hytha

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