Creating AI-powered experiences for creators in gaming and pop culture

From DJ, to Masterchef to, AI founder 

Justin Banusing – gamer, DJ, Masterchef contestant – is a busy guy. At 25, the hyper-focused founder already boasts an eye-catching CV (running the largest electronic music festival in the Philippines is just the start of it). But it’s precisely his wide-ranging passions that provide the inspiration and drive that propels him full pelt into new ventures – whether he wins or loses. Take Masterchef: Banusing was thrown out in episode one. “So that was pretty fast,” he admits. “I auditioned, I lost in the first round, and then I was like, ‘OK, I do tech stuff now’.”

“Tech stuff” has proved fertile territory for Banusing. Two years ago, with the support of Antler, he co-founded Clout Kitchen, an LA and Manila-based startup that makes AI clones for celebrities and creators. With their custom-built apps, a creator can hand over the keys to their socials and let Clout Kitchen’s digital marketing genie keep their content strategy in motion – adopting their voice, engaging with fans, even editing videos based on past footage. 

From Banusing’s own experience of building his profile as a DJ, this is a valuable tool. “One of the biggest pain points when I was DJing was how do I get more gigs? How do I charge more?” he says. A lot of people simply base their bookings on follower count, or the number of listeners an artist clocks up. “One of the things I need to do in order to grow as a DJ is make content, run socials, do marketing,” he says. “But I don't have the time to do that.” It’s a common complaint among artists – whatever the genre or medium. And that, says Banusing, is where Clout Kitchen comes in: “You focus on your craft and then we do the rest”.

A digital revolution in culture

Initially, Clout Kitchen targeted the gaming space, developing AI-powered buddies so that a player can get coached in their favourite game by their favourite creators. The first of these was Backseat AI, developed in collaboration with Tyler “Tyler1” Steinkamp, a pro-League of Legends player with 5 million followers on Twitch. Now it is pivoting to music, with Clout Kitchen eager to tap an industry that is rapidly evolving – and merging – with digital culture. “In the past the only thing you really needed to focus on if you were a musician was making good music and touring,” says Banusing. “But now musicians have to compete against content creators…against all these, like, influencer DJs…”

The money in music is bigger too, says Banusing, but so is the expectation. Just like with AI, he points out, there is a lot of uncertainty – you never know when the culture, or tech, is going to evolve. “You need to be able to deal with a lot of moving parts,” he says. Fortunately, these are parts that the 16-person team at Clout Kitchen are well versed in. Banusing’s co-founder, Marcel Feldkamp, is also a DJ, and used to run the creator side at United Talent. Many other key members are also ex-creators, DJs or pro players. “We approach this space with a very artist's first view,” says Banusing. “Because we're building for ourselves at the end of the day.”

The cultural industries are in the throes of a digital revolution, but for Banusing, Clout Kitchen is really riding the latest wave of AI innovation. When he co-founded his first startup six years ago it was a relatively straightforward community gaming platform. A lot of stuff AI is doing now was “technically possible” back then, he says, “but it wasn't feasible at any form of the consumer scale. Now it is.’ 

Banusing is talking about the rapid rise of cheap-to-run large-language models. “I mean, even when Clout Kitchen started out, it was really expensive,” he says. “One of the reasons we shut down the gaming product is that it was just not cost-feasible because of the way running an AI companion works. But everything's just gotten way cheaper and has way better reasoning now. It’s just gotten a lot easier to build, like, the whole notion of digital twins.”

Building with Antler

For all the innovation at Banusing’s fingertips, it was old-fashioned word-of-mouth that led him to Antler – ultimately setting Clout Kitchen in motion. It was a friend who works as an analyst for the company that flagged the residency program. “He said, ‘uh, bro, you should go apply’. So I did.” Next thing, Banusing was in Singapore, developing a network that has moulded the start up – and team – into the shape it is today. “We did bi-weekly check-ins with the mentors from Antler who were really helpful when it came to helping us come together with the idea that we presented at the end,” he says. “And we were able to meet a lot of people who we ended up recruiting into our company…it was great poaching people.”

Since then, says Banusing, Antler has continued to support the startup. It has invested every step of the way, helping the team with the complex visa paperwork required for the US, and nurtured strategic connections and introductions. But really, says Banusing, “they do the best thing that a VC should do, which is get out of the way and let us do our thing and be helpful when we ask them to, so I think that's really cool.”

In October 2024 Clout Kitchen closed a $4.5m seed round to grow its tech – this year it’s projecting $1m revenue, has signed artists including Zedd and Bbno$ and is running a new gaming and music festival in Manila – but again, it’s Banusing’s energy for making old school connections that keeps the opportunities coming. Take Illenium, an American dance music DJ and producer with a huge fanbase. Banusing got him onto their platform after sneaking backstage at a music festival and meeting him in the bathroom. “I mean, that's been the story of our startup, right? Taking opportunity in moments that don't typically have it.”