Thai Randolph Launches NILE & Co. Acquires As/Is and Goodful from BuzzFeed

A Brand and IP Platform Turning Narrative and Influence into Legacy Brands with Creators as Equity Partners

LOS ANGELES, April 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Thai Randolph, investor, entrepreneur, producer, and former CEO of Hartbeat, announced the launch of NILE & Co. (Narrative, Influence, Legacy, Enterprise) - a brand and IP platform that tells stories and builds businesses with the creators who move culture, for the consumers who move markets. It operates a content-to-commerce model: owning the platforms that reach her, using data to understand what she wants, and building or acquiring brands that reflect her evolving needs. NILE brings them to market through channels it already owns, alongside the creators and athletes she trusts - turning narrative and influence into legacy brands with enduring enterprise value.

The company launches with the acquisition of As/Is and Goodful from BuzzFeed, Inc. and a commercial partnership with BuzzFeed's popular identity brands including Cocoa Butter, Pero Like and A*Pop. Together, the portfolio reaches more than 50 million consumers (predominantly women ages 25 to 45) with over five billion lifetime content views and a decade of first-party insight into how she discovers, decides, and spends. The audience data and distribution network are not just assets to be monetized - they are the infrastructure that will fuel NILE's future acquisitions, creator and athlete partnerships, and new ventures, establishing a built-in consumer network from day one.

WHY HER. WHY NOW.

NILE unites three high-growth categories driven by the same consumer and shaped by the same creators. Women drive 85% of all consumer purchasing decisions¹.

• Wealth: Women are growing new businesses at nearly twice the rate of men and are projected to control $34 trillion²- roughly 38% of all U.S. investable assets by 2030³.
  
  
• Wellness: A $6.8 trillion global market projected to reach $9.8 trillion by 2029 - among the fastest-growing spending categories for women⁴.
  
  
• Women's Sports: A category in breakout momentum: TV viewership up 131%, ad spend up 139% year over year⁵.

"I've spent my career building brands and scaling businesses alongside some of the most influential creators and commercial partners in the world. What I've learned is that narrative and influence are two of the biggest accelerants in modern brand building — and women are now in the driver's seat. They control the majority of purchasing decisions, sit at the center of the largest wealth transfer in modern history, and are reshaping how capital, culture, and commerce move. Naturally, our first investment is in her." -  Thai Randolph, Founder & CEO, NILE & Co.

THE PLATFORM

NILE operates through three core strategies.

• Build - Co-found new companies with creators and athletes as equity partners, building brands from the ground up in the highest-growth sectors of the consumer and creator economy.
  
  
• Buy - Acquire brands with loyal audiences and cultural resonance and rebuild them into durable, multi-platform businesses with modern revenue models and expanded distribution.
  
  
• Partner - Work with IP owners, creators, and corporations as hands-on operating and commercialization partner, building and scaling brands that win the most influential consumers and creators in the market

Acquisitions

NILE targets IP, media, and technology businesses built at the intersection of consumer demand and creator influence, with strong audience alignment, cultural resonance, and clear headroom for growth. It scales them through an integrated platform combining narrative, equity-aligned creator and athlete partnerships, and proprietary data and distribution. As/Is and Goodful are the first of several acquisitions to be announced in the coming months.

As/Is (15M+ followers). Originally launched as a body positivity platform, As/Is is being repositioned as a whole-life platform for high-performing women - athletes, founders, and executives who are done accepting the terms as written. Her business. Her body. Her money. Her game.

Goodful (25M+ followers). Built on a decade of trust around living well, Goodful is evolving into a wellness-to-wealth platform for women who invest in themselves. Rooted in desire, not deficit, the brand becomes a launchpad for creator-led products, content, and experiences at the intersection of wellness and wealth.

"We look for brands with demonstrable audience affinity, valuable IP, and clear headroom to become something bigger. As/Is and Goodful have that foundation. They built trust with a highly engaged audience and became part of how she lives and sees herself. Now we're building their next chapter to meet her where she is today - ambitious, wealth-building, investing in her health with intention, and defining performance and pleasure on her own terms." - Thai Randolph, Founder & CEO, NILE & Co.

Both brands relaunch Summer 2026 - fully reimagined with evolved brand identities, business models, and creator and commercial partnerships.

Concurrent with the inaugural acquisitions, NILE & Co. has struck a commercial partnership with BuzzFeed's identity brands Cocoa Butter, Pero Like, and A*Pop - brands reaching influential multicultural audiences across Black, Latino, and Asian American communities. Together with NILE's owned portfolio, the partnership extends the platform's consumer reach to more than 50 million.

NILE & Co. Leadership

Joining Randolph as founding partners are Manveer (Monti) Sehmi, CFO (formerly Hartbeat, FastPay, Ernst & Young); Heather Johns, Head of Content & Creator Partnerships (formerly Paramount/Viacom, Lionsgate, UTA); Melinda Lee, Operating Partner & Advisor (formerly BuzzFeed, Meredith, Hearst), whose relationships were instrumental in originating the acquisitions; and Ahmad Barber, Operating Partner & Creative Director (collaborator to Nike, HBO, Netflix, Apple, Google). Granderson Des Rochers LLP served as legal counsel. Hilco Corporate Finance and Loop Capital serve as financial advisors.

About Nile & Co.
Narrative. Influence. Legacy. Enterprise.

NILE & Co. is a brand and IP platform that builds, buys, and scales creator-driven businesses at the intersection of wealth, wellness, and women's sports. Through original IP and creative development, proprietary data and distribution, and equity-aligned creator and commercial partnerships, the company converts audience into ownership and influence into enterprise value. Portfolio includes As/Is and Goodful, alongside commercial partnerships reaching more than 50 million consumers. "Just as the Nile River connects communities, sustains ecosystems, and builds civilizations along its path — that's what we do. We connect creators, athletes, consumers, and brands within one system, and create value that compounds for everyone involved." - Thai Randolph, Founder & CEO, NILE & Co.

About Thai Randolph

Thai Randolph is an entrepreneur, producer, brand builder, and business architect. Founder and CEO of NILE & Co. and former co-founder and CEO of Hartbeat, where she led a $100M+ capital raise — one of the largest ever secured by a Black woman for a private company — and scaled the company to Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies. Career spans senior roles at Sony, Lionsgate, WPP, Publicis, and Meta. Recognized on Variety's and Entrepreneur's Women of Impact lists, Billboard's Power Players: Hip-Hop & R&B;, Cynopsis's Visionary Leaders, and AdAge's 40 Under 40. Gracie Award-winning podcast host and producer. LP, Brainstrust Fund. Board member, Rock The Bells.

Cited Sources

(1) 85% consumer purchasing — SimpleRelevance / Chain Store Age
(2) $34T wealth stat — McKinsey & Co. via Bloomberg, Dec. 2024
(3) Women's business growth rate — Wells Fargo Impact of Women-Owned Business Report, 2024
(4) $6.8T → $9.8T wellness — Global Wellness Institute, Global Wellness Economy Monitor, Nov. 2025
(5) 131% viewership / 139% ad spend — EDO via CNBC, March 202

SOURCE NILE & Co.