Steven Bartlett BioSnap a weekly updated Biography.
Steven Bartlett has just made one of the most consequential moves of his career. In the past week Bartlett announced that Steven.com, his creator media holding company, secured a major eight-figure investment round led by Slow Ventures and Apeiron Investment Group. This deal vaults Steven.com to a $425 million valuation, now marking it as Europe’s largest-ever creator company fundraising, and cements Bartlett’s place among the wealthiest Dragons’ Den alumni. The company, which Bartlett controls with over 90 percent ownership, now unites his growing empire under a single US-incorporated parent as he intensifies a major expansion into the American market. Bartlett says his ambition is to build the Disney of the creator economy—a business that empowers digital creators, incubates new ventures, and scales intellectual property on a global level.
According to BusinessCloud, he turned down a £75 million offer to sell his podcast business this year and signed to WME, the world’s top talent agency, for representation in the US. This follows a string of successes, including the Diary of a CEO podcast surpassing one billion YouTube views and 70 million monthly downloads as of October. Bartlett’s media group FlightStory—whose roster boasts Trevor Noah, Davina McCall, and Paul C Brunson—continues to generate chart-topping hits with new shows like We Need To Talk and Begin Again. This makes Bartlett not just a power in podcasts but a central architect of the broader creator ecosystem.
The Diary of a CEO has become a phenomenon, regularly topping UK and European charts and pulling in A-list guests, most recently former Liverpool FC manager Jurgen Klopp. The show’s runaway growth, including adding 600,000 YouTube subscribers monthly, underscores Bartlett’s statement to press that he’s still less than one percent into his journey. Forbes and Time Magazine have reinforced his star power, with Digital Creator ranking and a Time 100 Creators nod respectively. Ever the investor, this month also saw PerfectTed—his Dragons’ Den-backed matcha brand—crowned the show’s most successful startup with a $190 million valuation.
Social media buzz has shadowed every step, with over 24 million followers and widespread coverage in outlets from Forbes to BBC and major business publications. However, Bartlett’s rise hasn’t been without controversy—he’s faced criticism for giving airtime to alternative medicine on his podcast and has occasionally drawn regulatory attention over advertising practices, particularly with disclosed and undisclosed promotional content. Recent headlines still focus squarely on business: BBC News, BusinessCloud, and European tech media all led with the staggering new valuation and the prospect of a creator-led media empire. As he told interviewers, the future he envisions is one where creators are the studios of the future, building durable IP and global businesses around their stories.
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