Vertically integrated venture studio opens accredited investor access to a portfolio of celebrity-creator brands
NEWBURY PARK, CA, UNITED STATES, March 4, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Butterpie Holdings, LLC, a Nevada-based holding company for Butterpie, LLC, its Southern California venture studio and CPG infrastructure platform, today announced an offering of up to 2,597,403 Series A Preferred Units at $3.08 per Unit for a raise of $8,000,000. The offering represents approximately 20% of the Company’s equity on a fully diluted basis, based on an implied $32M pre-money valuation ($40M post-money assuming full subscription), as determined by the Company. The minimum investment is $5,000.
The offering is being conducted through Netcapital Securities Inc., a registered broker-dealer, and is open exclusively to verified accredited investors at butterpie.netcapital.com.
Recent Development: Lenox Global, LLC, an unaffiliated group of prospective investors chaired by Lerry Knox, has expressed a non-binding indication of interest to invest up to $1.0 million in the offering, subject to completion of diligence, availability of capital, and execution of definitive subscription agreements. There can be no assurance that any such investment will be completed.
THE PROBLEM
The global creator economy is projected to exceed $480B by 2027, yet the infrastructure supporting it remains fragmented. Many celebrity and creator-led brands rely on multiple disconnected vendors – co-manufacturers, logistics providers, designers, sales brokers, and others, each operating independently and extracting fees without sharing equity alignment. They suffer from lack of cohesive execution structure, and are hard to scale from lack of product innovation, relying on white-labeling basic concepts. The result: attention without execution or excitement.
Meanwhile, early-stage access to high-growth creator brands, including some that have ultimately achieved significant exits, has historically been reserved for Silicon Valley insiders. Butterpie intends to change that and broaden access through a centralized venture studio model.
THE EXIT LANDSCAPE
Certain strategic acquirers have completed acquisitions and investments in consumer brands and adjacent categories at significant valuations. Publicly reported transactions have included Shiseido’s announced acquisition of Drunk Elephant for approximately $845 million; Church & Dwight’s agreement to acquire Hero Cosmetics for $630 million (with buyer-disclosed trailing twelve months EBITDA of approximately $45 million, implying roughly 14x EBITDA); Diageo’s acquisition of Aviation Gin and Davos Brands for total consideration of up to $610 million; Coty’s $600 million investment for a 51% stake in Kylie Cosmetics (implying an enterprise value of approximately $1.2 billion); and Liquid Death’s March 2024 financing at a $1.4 billion valuation.
ENTERTAINMENT AND CREATOR ECOSYSTEM RELATIONSHIPS
Headquartered in Southern California, the Butterpie Team has established professional relationships across the entertainment and creator ecosystem, including talent, management, brand operators, and commercial partners. These relationships provide the Company with access to potential opportunities for evaluating creator-led brand collaborations and product launches.
THE PLATFORM
Butterpie consolidates the fragmented vendor ecosystem into a single, vertically integrated venture studio platform. The founders have bootstrapped approximately $1M to build the operational foundation in cash and in-kind services.
The Company’s infrastructure includes approximately 100,000 square feet of CPG manufacturing, fulfillment, and warehousing capacity in California and Ohio. Butterpie also maintains relationships with a national retail sales network to access more than 5,000 sales professionals across big box, grocery, specialty, and boutique channels.
Butterpie’s model does not rely solely on influencer demand. The Company has developed relationships with R&D partners and product innovators, including science-driven platforms and patented formulations, that may seek the right celebrity or creator match. Butterpie has strategic relationships with third-party firms, including Lightshift LLC for R&D initiatives and COOL Studios for design services. COOL Studio’s clients have included Coca Cola, Vans, Casamigos, and NARS. These collaborations provide the Company with access to potential opportunities on both sides of the creator product ecosystem: creators seeking product infrastructure, and proprietary product innovations seeking distribution. Butterpie’s venture studio aims to facilitate matches between these parties and support potential premium positioning.
BUTTERPIE AI OPERATING SYSTEM & SAAS PLATFORM
ButterpieGPT™ is a proprietary AI operating system intended to integrate audience intelligence with product lifecycle management. Internally, the platform is designed to assist in evaluating product-market fit prior to capital deployment.
Externally, ButterpieGPT™ is being developed as a SaaS product described by the Company as a “venture studio in-a-box” platform for creators. The Company expects the platform may support an affiliate and sponsor collaboration “network,” which could provide additional opportunities for creator pipeline sourcing and co-marketing. The product is currently in alpha development, with a beta launch currently targeted for Q4 2026. The Company believes the platform could potentially generate complementary revenue streams through potential SaaS subscription fees while also serving as a channel to identify creator opportunities that may be evaluated for inclusion within Butterpie’s venture studio portfolio.
PORTFOLIO MODEL
Rather than underwriting a single brand, Butterpie intends to deploy capital across multiple early-stage, creator-led SPVs over an anticipated 24-month period. Each SPV operates as a standalone entity with structured governance and shared access to centralized infrastructure. Planned launches span beauty, beverage, food, wellness, and lifestyle. Investors in Butterpie Holdings obtain indirect exposure to the SPV portfolio, equity participation in ButterpieGPT™, and potential recurring revenue through platform fees and operational margins.
LEADERSHIP
Butterpie’s executive team brings experience across consumer products, entertainment, brand management, and artificial intelligence. Collectively, team members have supported businesses that generated more than $3 billion in aggregate gross merchandise value over the course of their respective careers.
• Paul Shrater (Chief Executive Officer) co-founded the Minimus companies, where he helped architect approximately 100,000 square feet of CPG operations and supported more than $1 billion in gross merchandise value during his tenure.
• Marc Benitez (President & Chief Business Development Officer) previously held leadership roles at Authentic Brands Group and Creative Artists Agency-GBG, where he managed brands generating more than $1 billion in aggregate gross merchandise value.
• Vishal Shukla (Chief Digital Officer) CEO at Rysun Labs, an AI first digital engineering technology services company and the digital infrastructure behind Butterpie’s venture studio operating system.
• Ronak Bhatt (Chief AI Officer) brings prior leadership experience at Meta, Netflix, and Walmart.com to Butterpie and leads the Rysun AI development team building ButterpieGPT™.
• Sabastian Enges (Chief Sales Officer) is a speaker, sales strategist, coach and content creator with more than 1.2 million TikTok followers who works to bridge creator access to retail distribution through his relationships with access to a national sales network of more than 5,000 representatives.
• John Paukulis (Managing Director) previously managed digital marketing campaigns at Paramount Pictures for film franchises that, in total, generated more than $1 billion in aggregate box office revenue.
ADVISORS & STRATEGIC RELATIONSHIPS
Butterpie’s advisory board includes Benjamin Grubbs, former YouTube executive and Managing Partner of Creator Capital, who has invested in creator-led ventures, including Good Good Golf (2025); Phil Ranta, CEO of Stealth Talent and former head of Facebook Gaming, a LinkedIn Top Voice on the creator economy; and Dr. Omar Bakr, Co-Founder and Chief Scientist of Tarana Wireless (Ph.D. UC Berkeley, MIT). The Company maintains advisory and strategic relationships with Tim Draper & Alon Goren through Draper Goren Blockchain. Butterpie has entered into a strategic partnership with entertainment industry veteran Nema Vand, Commercial and Film Director at VaynerX and VaynerWatt, and former cast member of Shahs of Sunset. The partnership is intended to support the development a full-service media studio focused on marketing creator-led brands through original storytelling and visual content, while leverage Nema’s public figure status, social media presence, following, and intellectual property.
MILESTONES
Near-term milestones may include expanding the creator pipeline, finalizing brand launch schedules across priority categories, and advancing ButterpieGPT™ from alpha toward a targeted Q4 2026 beta, subject to development timelines,market conditions, and other factors.
STRUCTURE
Series A Preferred Units carry a 1.0x participating liquidation preference, pursuant to which, in a qualifying liquidity event, holders are entitled to receive a return of their invested capital prior to participation on a pro-rata basis in any remaining distributions.
OFFERING INFORMATION
Butterpie Holdings, LLC is conducting a Regulation D Rule 506(c) offering. Participation is limited to investors who are verified accredited investors pursuant to Rule 506(c). Access materials at: http://butterpie.netcapital.com
SOURCES
• The global creator economy is projected to exceed $480B by 2027: https://www.goldmansachs.com/insights/articles/the-creator-economy-could-approach-half-a-trillion-dollars-by-2027
• Shiseido / Drunk Elephant: $845M acquisition: https://corp.shiseido.com/en/news/detail.html?n=00000000002773
• Church & Dwight / Hero Cosmetics: $630M acquisition (~14x $45M TTM EBITDA): https://www.forbes.com/sites/gabbyshacknai/2022/09/06/hero-cosmetics-acquired-by-church–dwight-for-630-million/
• Diageo / Aviation Gin: Up to $610M acquisition of Davos Brands: https://www.diageo.com/en/news-and-media/press-releases/2020/diageo-to-acquire-aviation-gin-and-davos-brands
• Coty / Kylie Cosmetics: $600M for 51% stake ($1.2B implied EV): https://www.coty.com/news/coty-and-kylie-jenner-announce-strategic-partnership-to-expand-beauty-brands
• Liquid Death: $1.4B valuation via $67M financing: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240310837019/en/Liquid-Death-closes-%2467-million-in-strategic-financing-including-top-distributors-at-%241.4-billion-valuation
These transactions are provided for illustrative and contextual purposes only. The companies referenced differ materially from Butterpie in stage of development, scale, financial performance, management, and market conditions. There can be no assurance that Butterpie will achieve comparable results, valuations, or outcomes.
LEGAL DISCLOSURES
This press release is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or solicitation to buy securities. Any offer or solicitation will be made only pursuant to definitive offering documents, including a private placement memorandum and subscription agreement, which should be reviewed in their entirety.
The securities described herein are being offered pursuant to Rule 506(c) of Regulation D under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and have not been registered under the Securities Act or any state securities laws. Such securities may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration requirements. Participation in the offering is limited to investors who are verified as accredited investors, as defined in Rule 501 of Regulation D.
Investments in early-stage companies are speculative and involve a high degree of risk, including the possible loss of the entire investment. There is no public market for the securities, and no assurance that one will develop. The securities are subject to restrictions on transfer and resale and may not be liquid. Prospective investors should carefully review the offering materials, including the section titled “Risk Factors,” before making an investment decision. Any valuation references, including pre-money and post-money valuations, have been determined by the Company and do not necessarily reflect market value or the price at which the securities may be resold, if at all.
This communication contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding market opportunity, portfolio strategy, product development, anticipated launches, prospective investors, potential revenue streams, and exit opportunities. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied. No assurance can be given that any projected outcomes will be achieved. No information contained herein should be interpreted as a guarantee of future performance.
Past performance and experience of the Company, its management, or any third parties referenced herein is not indicative of future results.
Any reference to a potential investment by Lennox Global, LLC reflects a non-binding indication of interest only and does not constitute a commitment or obligation to invest. Such indication is subject to, among other things, completion of due diligence, availability of capital, and execution of definitive subscription agreements. There can be no assurance that any investment will be made, in whole or in part, or that the terms of any such investment will be consistent with the indication described herein. Investors should not rely on any prospective investment by third parties when making an investment decision.
References to historical transactions, industry valuations, prior professional experience, advisory relationships, letters of intent, memoranda of understanding, strategic collaborations, or pipeline opportunities are provided for illustrative or background purposes only and do not imply that similar results will be achieved.
Netcapital Securities Inc. is acting as a broker-dealer in connection with the offering. Netcapital Securities does not make investment recommendations and has not independently verified the information contained herein. Investors may review Netcapital Securities’ broker-dealer registration and professional profile on FINRA’s BrokerCheck at https://brokercheck.finra.org.
Third-party names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners and are used for identification purposes only, with no implication of endorsement or affiliation.
Paul Shrater
Butterpie Holdings, LLC
paul.shrater@butterpie.com
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