Last weekend, on the vibrant sidelines of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, a groundbreaking moment unfolded for the entertainment industry. Goldfinch Holdings, a seasoned UK-based film financier, joined forces with Luxembourg’s newly established Digital Genesis Fund to announce a $20 million co-investment fund aimed at transforming media production through Web3 and artificial intelligence technologies. Unveiled at the TechCannes Industry event on May 17, this multi-year collaboration signals a bold step toward integrating decentralized finance and cutting-edge tech into the heart of storytelling. By bridging traditional film financing with innovative, tech-driven models, this partnership is poised to reshape how entertainment is created, funded, and experienced globally. With an ambitious international activation calendar already in motion, including a significant presence at the upcoming Indonesia Creative Investment Forum, this venture is set to redefine the creative landscape.
Pioneering a Decentralized Entertainment Ecosystem
The $20 million fund, powered by an initial investment from the Digital Genesis SICAV RAIF Fund and matched by Goldfinch International, marks a pivotal shift in entertainment financing. Under the leadership of Justin Deimen, Managing Partner at Goldfinch International, and Phil McKenzie, Goldfinch Holdings’ COO, the partnership is leveraging decentralized finance (DeFi) to create a new standard for the industry. Unlike traditional models reliant on centralized studios and rigid funding structures, this initiative embraces Web3’s decentralized ethos, enabling creators and investors to collaborate in innovative ways. The venture’s first acquisition, Lumiere, a tokenized crowdfunding platform backed by Animoca Brands, Brinc, Rolling Stone, and RS Productions, exemplifies this shift. Lumiere allows audiences and investors to fund projects before they are fully scripted, democratizing access to content creation and challenging conventional financing norms. This approach not only empowers creators but also fosters a participatory model where fans and stakeholders have a stake in the stories they love.
Key Projects Driving the Future of Media
The partnership’s portfolio is as ambitious as its vision, with several flagship projects already underway. The Squad, a Web3-native production studio, is at the forefront, embracing decentralized financing and participatory storytelling through an AI-powered pipeline. This studio reimagines the production process by giving creators greater control over their intellectual property (IP) and enabling direct-to-audience distribution. Another cornerstone is MILC (Media Industry Licensing Content), founded by Hendrik Hey, which is evolving into a comprehensive B2B and B2C-ready metaverse platform. MILC integrates tools for finance, rights management, branded content, ad sales, and distribution, creating an immersive environment where media is not just consumed but experienced interactively. Strategic partnerships with infrastructure providers like Germany’s ARCWARE, which supports high-fidelity pixel streaming, and AI-driven production pipelines further enhance the ecosystem’s capabilities, ensuring seamless and innovative content creation. These projects collectively aim to build a global deal flow of tokenized IPs, offering co-production and co-financing opportunities to studios and investors worldwide.
The Impact on Web3 and the Metaverse
This collaboration between Goldfinch and Digital Genesis holds profound implications for the Web3 and metaverse landscapes. By integrating blockchain technology and AI, the partnership is creating a transparent, interactive, and decentralized media ecosystem that transcends traditional boundaries. Tokenization, as seen in platforms like Lumiere, allows for fractional ownership of IPs, enabling broader participation from global investors and audiences. This not only diversifies funding sources but also fosters a sense of community ownership in creative projects. The metaverse, powered by platforms like MILC, offers a three-dimensional canvas where storytelling becomes immersive and responsive, blurring the lines between creator and consumer.
As Hendrik Hey, Managing Director and Co-Founder of the Digital Genesis Fund, eloquently stated, “This must be what it felt like when the first Hollywood pioneers built their studios and set a new era of storytelling in motion. Today, we find ourselves at a similar turning point — but this time, the canvas is infinite: a three-dimensional, transparent, and interactive metaverse. Visual media is no longer locked inside a screen — it breathes, it responds, it surrounds us. We are no longer just creating content; we are building worlds. And in these worlds, everyone becomes part of the story.”
This vision underscores the transformative potential of Web3 and AI in redefining how stories are told and experienced, positioning the entertainment industry at the forefront of technological innovation.
Global Expansion and Future Prospects
The momentum from the Cannes announcement is already propelling the partnership toward its next milestone: the Indonesia Creative Investment Forum, set to take place later this year. Co-hosted by Goldfinch Indonesia in collaboration with local investors Synco, Goshen Prime, and the Indonesian Creative Ministry, this two-day event will showcase tech-driven products from Lumiere and The Squad to a consortium of global investors and public institutions. This forum represents a strategic expansion into Southeast Asia, a region with burgeoning creative potential.
The partnership’s international activation calendar promises further investments and collaborations, building on Goldfinch’s established track record of closing $250 million across 300 deals over the past decade, with an impressive 11-13% internal rate of return. By fostering talent development, creating jobs, and establishing creative industry hubs, the initiative is not only revolutionizing media production but also contributing to economic and cultural growth in regions like Indonesia. As the entertainment industry stands at this technological crossroads, Goldfinch and Digital Genesis are paving the way for a future where creativity and innovation converge seamlessly.
About MILC
Hendrik Hey is the Founder of MILC (Media Industry Licensing Content), a pioneering company in the blockchain and metaverse space, with a strong background in media and content. MILC operates a real live metaverse platform that serves not only the media industry but also various industrial use cases. The company also focuses on Web3 consulting, aiming to support complex real-world industries on their way into Web3. MILC is a sister company of European media giant Welt der Wunder, which Hey founded over 25 years ago. For more information, please visit https://www.milc.global and https://www.ionpowergrid.com.
