Unwell, the media company co-founded by Alex Cooper and her husband Matt Kaplan in 2023, has secured its first outside funding in a deal with Patrick Whitesell’s WTSL that values the business at $500 million. The Gen Z-focused enterprise plans to deploy the capital toward acquisitions and media platform expansion.
Patrick Whitesell’s WTSL Takes Stake in Unwell at $500 Million Valuation
The media empire built around the popular podcast Call Her Daddy
has reached a major corporate milestone. Unwell, the parent company co-founded by Alex Cooper and her husband Matt Kaplan, has brought in its first outside capital through an investment led by Patrick Whitesell and his firm, WTSL, valuing the business at $500 million.
While the precise financial terms of the transaction were not publicly disclosed by the company, the capital injection marks a shift for a venture that Cooper and Kaplan had previously self-funded since its inception in 2023. Despite taking on outside investment, the couple retains a majority ownership stake in the enterprise, which reports that it has been profitable since day one.
WTSL is backed by private equity firm Silver Lake and was launched by Whitesell and Jason Lublin after Whitesell exited his leadership roles at Endeavor and WME. The investment firm brings heavy industry backing and strategic relationships, mirroring its work with clients such as Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions. Jason Lublin is also part of the leadership team backing the bet that Unwell can scale into a larger player in modern media.
Scaling Beyond Podcasting Into Streaming, Products, and Acquisitions
Unwell originally grew out of the massive listenership commanded by Call Her Daddy
, which is the most-listened-to podcast by women globally and has recorded more than 600 episodes since 2018. Sirius XM Holdings Inc. pays Unwell more than $30 million a year under a three-year deal inked in 2024 worth up to $125 million to handle distribution and advertising sales for Cooper’s network.
The company now houses a podcast network featuring over a dozen shows, including Madeline Argy’s Pretty Lonesome
and Alix Earle’s Hot Mess
. Beyond audio, Unwell operates a film and television production arm, consumer products including beverages, live events, and an in-house advertising division named The Unwell Creative Agency.
“Trust has become the ultimate distribution channel and seventy million women a month tune-into Unwell. We’re scaling on all fronts, combining nimbleness, social-first premium content, and our understanding of culture to serve this highly influential audience. With WTSL’s backing, the company is now also poised to accelerate our media platform’s growth through acquisitions and investments.”
Alex Cooper, Co-founder of Unwell
That audience footprint is heavily skewed toward young female demographics. Unwell reports that 89% of its audience is female, with 72% falling between the ages of 18 and 35, commanding nearly 100 million total followers across platforms. The company generated more than 1.7 trillion earned media impressions in 2025 alone.
The production slate extends across major streaming platforms. Projects include the documentary Call Her Alex
on Hulu, the reality series Love Overboard
, the Disney+ Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special
, and Netflix projects such as XO, Kitty
and upcoming series like Let’s Marry Harry
and Icebreaker
.
Addressing Industry Scrutiny and Charting the Next Phase
The valuation milestone arrives on the heels of intense media scrutiny regarding the company’s internal operations.
Cooper pushed back against the claims during appearances at industry events, dismissing the reports and pointing to the difficulties faced by women running businesses in digital media. I will just kind of leave it at ‘Don’t believe everything that you read on the internet’ — but I think everyone knows that at this point,
Cooper said during an interview at Cannes Lions.
With WTSL’s backing secured, leadership is turning its focus outward. Cooper noted that the company plans to target creative agencies and other enterprises that already possess the non-traditional infrastructure to fold into Unwell’s existing framework.
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