Miami's MediaLabs Lands a Series A to Build the Plumbing Behind TikTok Shop Sales

MIAMI — Social commerce has turned short videos and livestreams into storefronts, and a Miami company that sits between brands and the creators who sell for them has just raised new money to grow. MediaLabs, a social commerce and UGC affiliate agency, announced a Series A investment on Nov. 1 from what it described only as “an international marketplace company.”

The announcement leaves some big blanks. The investor is not named, and no dollar amount was disclosed. The release’s headline calls it an “8-Figure Series A,” while the body says the investment came “at an eight-figure valuation.” As South Florida Digest pointed out, those are two different things, and the public materials don’t settle which number is which.

What the company did spell out is how it plans to use the capital, and what kind of business it is building.

A Managed Network of 3,000 Creators

MediaLabs says it connects brands with a managed network of more than 3,000 TikTok Shop creators. Its services span TikTok Shop management, affiliate management, creator campaigns, paid advertising and live commerce, which the company describes as “driving purchases during creator streams.”

The detail that sets it apart, according to the company, is that it “recruits, maintains, and trains its own creator community,” rather than assembling creators campaign by campaign. Brands get access to creators who are already working inside MediaLabs’ ecosystem.

The company also put some numbers on that network. In its announcement, MediaLabs estimated that roughly 700 connected creators are generating about $10 million in monthly gross merchandise value, and said its broader network “is estimated to generate substantially more.” Its team page, according to South Florida Digest, claims more than $500 million in TikTok Shop GMV generated by its operators and more than 150 brand partners.

Those are company-reported figures, not audited results. GMV measures the value of goods sold, not what MediaLabs or its creators actually earn.

Born From a Glasses Experiment

MediaLabs’ founders did not start as an agency. According to the release, the team launched an affiliate network in 2023, then in May 2024 launched SEDLAK, a blue-light glasses brand, “as a test to determine if a consumer product could be launched using an exclusively creator-led model.” The company says SEDLAK has since sold more than 18,000 units through TikTok Shop.

That experiment became the foundation for MediaLabs. The company lists Lukas Minkov as co-founder and CEO, Alex Sedlak as founder and president, and Ethan Price as co-founder and head of content.

“Our goal was to build this from both sides of the marketplace,” Minkov said in the announcement. “We understand what brands need to sell, but we also understand the creators because our founding team came from that world.” He added that Sedlak “built a 2.4M following on TikTok.”

Where the Money Goes

MediaLabs says the funding will support expansion of its managed services for brands on TikTok Shop, “with particular emphasis on its creator-commerce infrastructure.” It also plans to further integrate AI into its operations, focusing on creator-brand matching, performance analysis and creative production.

“Social commerce is clearly becoming a much larger part of how people discover and buy products, but the infrastructure around the bottom of the funnel is still developing,” said Aidan Castillo, MediaLabs’ VP of client success, in the release. “Our job is to build that infrastructure so brands and creators can turn attention into sales more reliably.”

The company says it operates from Miami and intends to keep a founder-led operating model. It did not give hiring targets, a product timeline or a breakdown of spending.

Why Miami Founders Should Pay Attention

For South Florida’s consumer brands, the takeaway is less about the size of the check and more about where sales are moving. Creator-led selling has become its own sales channel, with its own specialists. Agencies like MediaLabs are trying to make it work like a repeatable system instead of a string of one-off influencer posts.

MediaLabs has also been building a local presence. In a March recap cited by South Florida Digest, the company said it hosted the Miami stop of the TikTok City Tour at its headquarters and drew more than 500 brands, founders, creators and operators. That attendance figure also comes from the company.

There is a workforce angle, too. Minkov framed the business as a way for people to build income through selling online. “As AI changes the value of different skills and the way people work, we think the ability to create, build an audience, and sell will only become more important,” he said. “We want MediaLabs to empower people to build something of their own.”

The Open Questions

Until MediaLabs or its backer shares more, several key details remain unknown: who the investor is, how much it put in, the deal terms, and whether the marketplace partner will play an operating role. Those answers will say a lot about whether this is a straightforward financing or a strategic tie-up with a bigger commerce platform.

For now, the deal adds another name to Miami’s growing list of companies building businesses around the creator economy. It’s also a reminder for local founders that a good funding headline is no substitute for the actual numbers.