Joshua Kenneth Richards, known as Josh Richards, is an 18-year-old social media influencer, entrepreneur, musician, writer, actor, and host from a small town outside of Toronto, Ontario. Richards proclaimed to Forbes that he is “going to be the first influencer billionaire” and has every intent to fulfill that vow. After a brief entrepreneurial hiatus to grow his social media audience to over 38M followers across platforms, he put his entrepreneurial hat back on and founded TalentX, the largest TikTok management and production company, and Sway House, one of the top talent collectives on the internet. He then proceeded to launch his own energy drink Ani Energy, acquire 10% of social good company Dog for Dog where he became partners with Snoop Dog, launch a JV with Warner Records in addition to signing with them as a recording artist, invest in TikTok competitor Triller and become their Chief Strategy Officer, invest in Ellen DeGeneres' UnHide and become their co-creative director, and join the Remus Capital team as a Venture Partner. As an avid angel investor, Richards has invested in vtodozens of companies including ReKT Global, Lendtable, Atmos, Versus Game, AON3D, Poppi, Chalk Messaging, Stir, and Humaning. In December 2020, Richards and his roommate Griffin Johnson procured their first 7-figure follow-on check for one of their portfolio companies from Sean Rad and Justin Mateen, founders of Tinder. They also brought on other strategic investors including Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. As an entertainer, Richards is signed to The Gersh Agency and has starred in multiple short films including Under the Stadium Lights and Summertime Dropouts. He also co-hosts the BFFs Podcast with Dave Portnoy, founder of Barstool Sports. His hit song, Still Softish has garnered over 100M streams. Philanthropy is also something Richards has always valued. He participated in the All In Challenge which helped raise over $50M, donated 100,000 masks to his and his friends' schools, created a clothing line where all proceeds were donated to the NAACP, gave out blankets to the homeless on Giving Tuesday, and followed that by handing out Chipotle and Ani Energy to the less fortunate. Richards also spoke at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas about climate change where he gave a fan $10,000 for creating the best video raising awareness regarding climate change.In January of 2021, Richards teamed up with roommate Griffin Johnson to raise $200,000 in 24 hours for the Barstool Sports COVID relief fund, bringing in legendary donors (partial list of donors here) such as CEO of Take-Two Interactive Strauss Zelnick, co founder of Netflix Marc Randolph, co founder of YouTube Chad Hurley, co founder of Twitch Chad Hurley, Griffin and Josh themselves, FullScreen founder George Strompolos, former TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer, co founder of Android Rich Miner, and others. Their fundraiser was covered by multiple outlets including Benzinga. Richards was named on Forbes' 2019 Highest-Earning TikTok Stars list at number 5 and named one of the next 20 cultural pioneers by Highsnobiety. Sean Rad (founder, Tinder) called Richards in Forbes: "wise beyond his years" and Newsweek called Richards "a mogul in the making.” The New York Times tapped Richards as one of the social media entrepreneurs who made investors “finally embrace the influencer economy as legitimate business” citing his work with Remus Capital. Forbes’ Social Media Awards labeled Richards and Charli D’Amelio the two TikTokers who “will grow up,” also citing his investment and venture work. Seventeen Magazine profiled Richards and D’Amelio as the “two teens that turned into celebrities overnight”. Richards was a headline speaker at the Hawke Media Quarantine Conference. He has been profiled by NBC, CNBC, Newsweek digital and print, Forbes 1, Forbes 2, Axios Insider, Benzinga, Seventeen, International Business Times, Elite Daily, has appeared on ET, Fox Business Network TV, Cheddar, and others, and has been quoted in almost every major media outlet from Rolling Stone, to Fortune Magazine, to Billboard Magazine. He also has op-eds published in Newsweek, Fox Business, and Elite Daily among others. You can connect with Josh Richards on LinkedIn as well as on Triller, TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter via @JoshRichards.