The three siblings decided to try to close that gap by creating Mindset, an audio app where celebrities and musicians discuss topics such as mental health, wellness and personal experiences.
The brothers used their podcast company, Westlake-based Creators Collective Inc., better known as the K-pop-focused Dive Studios, to launch the app in late August. The beta version launched in February.
Prior to launching the Mindset app, Brian Nam noticed listeners were interested in podcasts related to the personal stories of Dive Studios’ artists.
“In early 2020, we saw that a lot of our listeners were drawn to a lot of the podcast topics that revolved around mental health, wellness, discussions of just human experiences and generally human stories,” he said.
The app features audio collections by major K-pop artists such as Tablo, Jae Park and Woosung. Each audio collection, which contains up to 10 episodes running 10 to 25 minutes each, costs $24.99. The introductory episode to each collection is free.
Alongside its launch, Mindset announced an $8.7 million seed funding round led by New York-based Union Square Ventures. Individual angel investors included Twitch Interactive Inc. co-founder Kevin Lin, Opendoor Labs Inc. co-founder Eric Wu and Peek Travel Inc. co-founder and Chief Executive Ruzwana Bashir.
TQ Ventures, a New York City-based fund founded by Scooter Braun, also participated in the round. “Working closely with artists, I understand the important relationship that is created and fostered with each of their fans,” Braun said in a statement. “Through Mindset, the gap between each is being bridged in a way that has never been done before.”
Nam said the company plans to use the funding to expand Mindset by increasing hiring, creating more content and partnering with more celebrities.
