RedBird Capital And Investment Group StepStone Acquire Majority Stake In Casting Firm Talent Systems
Private equity firm RedBird Capital Partners and private markets investment outfit StepStone Group have acquired a majority stake in Talent Systems, a key player in the casting business.
Based in LA, Talent Systems has casting software and operates a talent marketplace for the entertainment industry. It was formed by Co-CEOs Rafi Gordon and Alex Amin. As of 2021, it had more than 50,000 projects under management and facilitated more than 2 million auditions in film, television, commercials, theater and digital productions.
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Financial terms were not disclosed. Last year, Talent Systems itself swung a significant pair of deals, acquiring reality casting platform ETribez and production crew network Staff Me Up. Also in the Talent Systems portfolio are Casting Networks, Spotlight, Cast It Systems and Casting Frontier.
RedBird partner Andy Gordon described Talent Systems as “a platform that offers efficiencies to a media and entertainment ecosystem managing a massive increase in supply and demand of content creation.”
Given RedBird’s investment experience and relationships in the entertainment industry, he added, “together we have an opportunity to continue to scale their business when it is needed most. We are also pleased that Rafi and Alex, along with their leadership team and existing financial partner, Caltius, will continue to have a significant equity stake going forward.”
In a joint statement, Gordon and Amin saluted RedBird’s “extensive track record of building long-term, successful businesses coupled with its deep expertise in the entertainment industry.” They added, “We’re confident that the partnership and resources that RedBird brings will add to the company’s trajectory and our primary goal of delivering best-in-class technology capabilities to our customers across the talent, casting director, studio, and agency segments.”
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson served as legal advisor to RedBird. William Blair served as financial advisor to Talent Systems, and Morgan Lewis & Bockius served as legal advisor to the company.
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