Recent Editions

Tori Dunlap, Founder of Her First 100K. Photo: Courtesy Tori Dunlap
Creator Economy

Boot-Strapping the Creator Economy; TikTok Tweaks its Algorithm

By Kaya Yurieff · Dec 16, 2021 2:41pm PST
We published a feature on Thursday morning about some of the difficulties female founders of startups have encountered while fundraising, and how those deals amounted to less than 5% of the sector’s funding in the first eight months of the year, according to The Information’s Creator Economy Database. One thread that emerged from our... We published a feature on Thursday morning about some of the difficulties female founders of...
Tyler Faux, Co-Founder & CEO, Supergreat
Creator Economy

Shopify Backs a Creator Economy Startup; Q&A With TikToker Lex del Valle

By Mahira Dayal · Dec 15, 2021 3:22pm PST
Supergreat, a beauty-focused live streaming and shopping app, has raised $20 million in a funding round led by Greenoaks and joined by Shopify. Existing investors such as Benchmark, which led Supergreat’s $10 million Series A investment in July, along with Thrive Capital, TQ Ventures, Shrug Capital and Third Kind also participated. Details of... Supergreat, a beauty-focused live streaming and shopping app, has raised $20 million in a funding...
Photo: Bloomberg
Creator Economy

The Math on Snap’s Spotlight Payouts

By Mahira Dayal · Dec 14, 2021 3:38pm PST
On Tuesday, Snap disclosed a big new number: This year, it has paid 12,000 creators over $250 million to make videos for Spotlight, its short-form video alternative to TikTok. The Snapchat parent was one of the first social networks to dedicate a special pool of money to pay creators, announcing just over a year ago that it would spend $1... On Tuesday, Snap disclosed a big new number: This year, it has paid 12,000 creators over $250...
Grin CEO Brandon Brown. Photo: Grin
Grin CEO on Why Every Company Needs a Salesforce for Creators
By Kaya Yurieff · Dec 13, 2021 3:40pm PST
Grin CEO Brandon Brown. Photo: Grin
Creator Economy

Grin CEO on Why Every Company Needs a Salesforce for Creators

By Kaya Yurieff · Dec 13, 2021 3:40pm PST
Over the past decade, dozens of influencer marketing firms have cropped up to broker deals between internet personalities and advertisers trying to reach their audiences. Agents, managers and other staff handle negotiating prices and coming up with creative ideas and strategies. Grin takes a more tech-heavy approach. The $910... Over the past decade, dozens of influencer marketing firms have cropped up to broker deals...
TikTok star Junna Faylee. Photo: Junna Faylee
Creator Economy

Facebook’s Creator Announcements Near a Dozen; ‘Nintendo.Grl’ on TikTok Hate Comments

By Mahira Dayal · Dec 9, 2021 4:09pm PST
Facebook-parent Meta Platforms is ticking off the boxes on releasing tools for creators as it pushes to bring these influencers and their young fans to the app. The latest include a new way to make money during live broadcasts and a feature for fans to follow creators after they post in the comments. While these changes are minor, the... Facebook-parent Meta Platforms is ticking off the boxes on releasing tools for creators as it...
Instagram head Adam Mosseri speaks at a Senate hearing on Wednesday. Photo: Bloomberg.
Creator Economy

What JoJo Siwa Told Instagram’s Mosseri; Messaging Startup Authoritive Scores Funding

By Mahira Dayal · Dec 8, 2021 3:58pm PST
Instagram’s creator conference in June was supposed to celebrate its commitment to influencers. But one marquee interview has come back to bite Instagram head Adam Mosseri. At a Senate hearing Wednesday, Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) used Mosseri’s video exchange with Instagram and YouTube star JoJo Siwa to make the point that... Instagram’s creator conference in June was supposed to celebrate its commitment to influencers....
Discord is testing a new feature that allows creators to charge fans for subscriptions on the chat app. Photo: Bloomberg
Creator Economy

Discord Takes Back Turf from Patreon; Facebook Boosts Tipping

By Kaya Yurieff · Dec 7, 2021 3:45pm PST
It’s long been popular practice for creators to sell access to their private Discord communities as part of paid subscriptions on Patreon, YouTube and Twitch. The arrangement kept creators, such as gamers with big followings, conversing with their fans on Discord. But the chat app didn’t get any subscription revenue; the other platforms did.... It’s long been popular practice for creators to sell access to their private Discord communities...
Universe CEO Joseph Cohen. Photo credit Jayson Carter.
Addition Leads Funding for Website Builder Universe; Twitter Shuffles Top Team
By Kaya Yurieff · Dec 6, 2021 2:32pm PST
Universe CEO Joseph Cohen. Photo credit Jayson Carter.
Creator Economy

Addition Leads Funding for Website Builder Universe; Twitter Shuffles Top Team

By Kaya Yurieff · Dec 6, 2021 2:32pm PST
Creators are making custom websites in vogue again.After years of watching social networks abruptly tweak their algorithms or make other changes like hiding popularity metrics, influencers are trying to exert more control over their audiences by launching their own websites and blogs. That’s feeding demand for the startups that help them build... Creators are making custom websites in vogue again.After years of watching social networks...
YouTuber Zik Asiegbu. Photo credit: Popchew
Creator Economy

How Startup Popchew Is Feeding Creators’ Restaurant Ambitions

By Mahira Dayal · Dec 2, 2021 4:36pm PST
At a certain point, many creators want to do more than earn money from videos and sponsored posts: They want to own businesses that don’t rely on their daily uploads. Few get to this point, given the financing and know-how needed to run a standalone operation like a restaurant. But YouTuber Zik Asiegbu and startup Popchew are trying a third... At a certain point, many creators want to do more than earn money from videos and sponsored...
Actress Felicia Day. Photo: AP
Creator Economy

A Startup Dives Into the Social Token Pool; TikTok Expands Tipping

By Mahira Dayal · Dec 1, 2021 4:12pm PST
Pools, a startup that develops personalized cryptocurrency tokens for creators, announced a $18 million seed funding round led by Global Founders Capital, with participation from investors including L2 Ventures, Shift, Maveron and Kima Ventures. The startup joins others in our Creator Economy Database, including Rally and Roll, developing... Pools, a startup that develops personalized cryptocurrency tokens for creators, announced a $18...
Soy Nguyen. Photo: Vincent Elejorde
Creator Economy

LinkedIn Flexes its Creator Muscles; Q&A With TikToker Behind ‘Food With Soy’

By Kaya Yurieff · Nov 30, 2021 2:00pm PST
LinkedIn isn’t an obvious destination for finding posts from top social media personalities. But the Microsoft-owned company is trying to change that perception by doubling down on efforts to woo creators amid a bigger fight for online talent among social platforms. On Tuesday, LinkedIn unveiled the first class of its creator accelerator... LinkedIn isn’t an obvious destination for finding posts from top social media personalities. But...
Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. Photo: Bloomberg, Illustration: Mike Sullivan
The Creator Challenges Facing Twitter’s New CEO
By Kaya Yurieff · Nov 29, 2021 2:53pm PST
Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. Photo: Bloomberg, Illustration: Mike Sullivan
Creator Economy

The Creator Challenges Facing Twitter’s New CEO

By Kaya Yurieff · Nov 29, 2021 2:53pm PST
Over the past year, Twitter has stepped up efforts to appeal to creators, including acquiring newsletter service Revue, adding live audio feature Spaces, introducing tipping and starting Super Follows, which allow creators to charge their top fans for bonus tweets. Now the question is whether its new CEO Parag Agrawal will accelerate those... Over the past year, Twitter has stepped up efforts to appeal to creators, including acquiring...
LTK co-founder Amber Venz Box. Photo: LTK
Creator Economy

LTK’s Amber Venz Box on Social Shopping’s Next Wave; Q&A With a Cheese Board Influencer

By Kaya Yurieff · Nov 24, 2021 2:42pm PST
Amber Venz Box, an early fashion influencer, co-founded social shopping app LTK ten years ago when she realized more people wanted to buy goods she recommended online than in person. Earlier this week, the Dallas-based company, which she runs with her husband Baxter Box, announced $300 million in funding from SoftBank Vision Fund 2 at a... Amber Venz Box, an early fashion influencer, co-founded social shopping app LTK ten years ago...
Amazon’s Growing Influencer Ambitions; An Instagram Thread Trend
Creator Economy

Amazon’s Growing Influencer Ambitions; An Instagram Thread Trend

By Mahira Dayal · Nov 23, 2021 2:52pm PST
Amazon has emerged as a key player in the creator economy, from its gaming live-streaming service Twitch to the Clubhouse competitor it is reportedly working on. But a less well known part of Amazon’s ambitions is how it has been tapping into creators to recommend products on its ecommerce site for years.Some popular creators like Tinx have been... Amazon has emerged as a key player in the creator economy, from its gaming live-streaming service...
Chart: Mike Sullivan
Creator Economy

Twitter Joins Big Tech Assault on Live-Shopping Startups; Harassment on TikTok

By Mahira Dayal · Nov 22, 2021 3:50pm PST
The way live-shopping apps are growing these days—in terms of equity valuations from VC investments and perhaps even revenue—it was only a matter of time before every incumbent social media app would try to steal their thunder. The latest is Twitter, which on Monday announced the debut of its first shopping livestream, a 30-minute event on... The way live-shopping apps are growing these days—in terms of equity valuations from VC...
Christina Najjar. Photo: Matthew Misisco
Creator Startup M&A; Facebook’s Audio Cash; Q&A With Tinx
By Kaya Yurieff · Nov 18, 2021 4:12pm PST
Christina Najjar. Photo: Matthew Misisco
Creator Economy

Creator Startup M&A; Facebook’s Audio Cash; Q&A With Tinx

By Kaya Yurieff · Nov 18, 2021 4:12pm PST
A bout of merger mania is hitting the creator economy. The flurry of recent deals include banking app MoneyLion’s acquisition earlier this week of Malka Media, a startup and content studio that connects advertisers with creators. Also this week, Jellysmack, a startup that helps creators repackage their content for different social media... A bout of merger mania is hitting the creator economy. The flurry of recent deals include banking...
Photo: SageSpot, Illustration: Mike Sullivan
Creator Economy

How Instagram’s Test to Hide Likes Really Impacted Creators; Fan Membership Startup SageSpot Raises from Khosla

By Kaya Yurieff · Nov 17, 2021 3:09pm PST
When Instagram first announced it would test hiding likes in 2019, the potential removal of this popularity metric risked hurting the livelihood of social media personalities building followings and businesses on the app. But the impact to creators and business accounts wasn’t as bad as feared, according to internal data from Instagram’s parent... When Instagram first announced it would test hiding likes in 2019, the potential removal of this...
Photo: Erin Patrice O'Brien / The Luupe, Illustration: Mike Sullivan
Creator Economy

A Startup for Photographers Nabs Funding; Instagram Expands Tipping

By Kaya Yurieff · Nov 16, 2021 2:47pm PST
Freelance photographers are looking for ways to score clients beyond their own social media presence. That’s where startup The Luupe, founded by a former director at stock photography company Shutterstock, has identified an opportunity.The two-year-old startup connects photographers, particularly female and non-binary photographers, with... Freelance photographers are looking for ways to score clients beyond their own social media...
Photo: Racket
Creator Economy

Racket Raises Funding for Short-Form Audio Clips; Substack Passes 1 Million Paid Subscriptions

By Kaya Yurieff · Nov 15, 2021 2:37pm PST
Social audio exploded during the pandemic, from live conversations on Clubhouse and Twitter to sending voice notes to friends on WhatsApp and iMessage. Now tech companies, including several startups and Meta Platforms' Facebook app, are trying a new format: short audio snippets shared by people you may not already know.   Racket, which... Social audio exploded during the pandemic, from live conversations on Clubhouse and Twitter to ...
Photo: Duolingo, Ilustration: Mike Sullivan
How Duolingo Cracked TikTok; A New Tax App Launches for Creators
By Kaya Yurieff · Nov 11, 2021 2:00pm PST
Photo: Duolingo, Ilustration: Mike Sullivan
Creator Economy

How Duolingo Cracked TikTok; A New Tax App Launches for Creators

By Kaya Yurieff · Nov 11, 2021 2:00pm PST
Duolingo, the language learning app, has garnered heaps of positive attention recently after doubling down on its TikTok account. Its follower count has jumped from 50,000 in September to more than 1.4 million, the company told me this week.Those gains are particularly notable given how hard it can be for companies to capture someone’s attention... Duolingo, the language learning app, has garnered heaps of positive attention recently after...