The executive behind Penn & Teller: Fool Us and Richard Hammond’s Blast Lab is to head up his own indie as part of a joint venture with DCD Media.

Executive producer Sheldon Lazarus is leaving his current role as creative director at DCD-owned September Films to launch Rize.

Broadcast understands the investment in the start-up was split approximately 50-50, with Rize expected to be a part of the wider group in the long term.

The new company will focus on factual, fact ent and reality shows for the domestic and international markets, particularly the US. It will be headquartered in London with a production office in LA.

Rize has already secured a factual commission with the BBC, although Lazarus would not reveal details. Its creative team will be entirely separate from DCD, with plans to expand to around 20 within a year.

Lazarus, who joins the DCD board as part of the deal, is also keen to develop co-productions with September. He said: “It’s important for us to be attached to DCD because of the reputation it already holds internationally, and the existing infrastructure it has built. For a start-up to have that support from the get-go is very valuable.”

DCD Media chief executive David Green said the new venture would help the parent company in its ambition to grow its position in the non-fiction market.

Green also told Broadcast the fact ent specialist would undergo “a sea change in the UK” on the back of successful formats such as ITV1’s Penn & Teller series.