GoPro has been acquired and is getting into ‘defense, government, robotics and aerospace’
Right after a YouTuber became GoPro’s biggest shareholder, the company got sold.
Right after a YouTuber became GoPro’s biggest shareholder, the company got sold.
bySean Hollister Sep 1, 2026, 12:46 PM EDT
GoPro suddenly looks like a very different company than it did just last week. First, YouTuber Mark “Markiplier” Fischbach became the company’s single largest shareholder, without disclosing that in a sponsored review that came out a week later. Now, almost the entire company has been bought by Starman Holding for $285 million in cash, which Starman is characterizing as a “merger.”
While GoPro has always been best known as the company that makes consumer action cameras, the press release takes a bit of a different tone: founder and CEO Nick Woodman now calls GoPro “a leading American imaging and optical solutions company, addressing important areas of national security related to cameras, optics and AI infrastructure.”
“The combination of GoPro’s world-class optical expertise and intellectual property with Starman’s advanced transceiver capabilities and U.S. manufacturing platform creates a unique opportunity. Together, we intend to bring production of these critical components back to the United States,” reads a quote from Starman Holdings CEO Charles Tebele.
What is Starman Holding? According to Tebele’s online bio, it’s got a lot of fingers in a lot of pies — but you might recognize its phone case brands Incipio, Incase, Griffin, and Survivor. It appears that Starman Holding owns Onward Brands, which acquired Vinci Brands, a division of Armor Acquisition, which bought them from Incipio back in 2021.
You might also recognize its brand Digital Gadgets, which reportedly donated to NY governor Kathy Hochul’s campaign around the same time it secured $637 million in contracts for COVID-19 tests, then sued
