Dude Perfect — the five-man crew focused on “giving back, spreading joy, and glorifying Jesus Christ,” according to their website — just earned a whopping $100 million cash infusion.
The five dudes behind the viral YouTube account, Coby Cotton, Cory Cotton, Garrett Hilbert, Cody Jones, and Tyler Toney, have garnered international attention over the years for their trick-shot videos and winsome content.
Listen to them on the latest episode of “Quick Start” 👇
The more than $100 million investment from Highmount Capital marks Dude Perfect’s first external influx of cash, Axios reported, noting the guys, who met as roommates at Texas A&M University and began posting content to YouTube in 2009, have invested their revenue directly into their own expansion. The company stated this year, though, that total profits are expected to exceed $50 million, doubling their revenue from 2022, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Speaking to Axios, Coby Cotton said the group plans to use the money to build out a management team, expand its staff, and bring a CEO on board. Additionally, the Christian guys are planning an international tour and are looking into translating their videos into other languages.
And about a year and half ago, the Dude Perfect cofounders released a plan to build a $100 million trick-shot theme park in the Dallas-Forth Worth area.
“The mission of Dude Perfect is to serve families with the most trusted entertainment on earth,” Coby Cotton told D Magazine. “By partnering with Highmount Capital, we hope to pour gas on the fire and take the Dude Perfect fun that families have witnessed on screens these past 15 years and turn it into real life products and memory-making experiences they can actually touch and feel for themselves.”
David Hawkins, chief investment officer and general partner for Highmount Capital, said his own three sons, ages 5, 8, and 10, are “super fans” of Dude Perfect. As a father, he said he is a fan of their content, too, because he knows he can trust it is family friendly.
“The most valuable thing we’ve done these last 15 years is build trust with families and then … build trust with the brands,” Coby Cotton said.
The cofounder of Highmount Capital, Jason Illian, sees the kind of content Dude Perfect creates as the future of entertainment.
He told The Hollywood Reporter, “When you talk to teenagers and kids and people that watch the Dudes, they’re all being influenced, and three out of four kids said they want to be an influencer and a creator, so I don’t think they’re gonna call this the ‘creator economy’ in the near future, they’re just gonna call it media, because that’s really what it is, and the Dudes are at the front end of that.”
“We thought a significant investment made sense just because, when you look at all the things that they have in front of them, working with sports teams, and retailers, and opportunities for events, we want to make sure there’s enough capital there to do it really well,” he added.
***As the number of voices facing big-tech censorship continues to grow, please sign up for Faithwire’s daily newsletter and download the CBN News app, developed by our parent company, to stay up-to-date with the latest news from a distinctly Christian perspective.***