We Back Builders. Founded by @Jason  Team behind   This Week in Startups: https://www.youtube.com/c/ThisWeekIn  @twistartups    The LAUNCH Accelerator https://launchaccelerator.co/ @launchincubator    The Syndicate https://thesyndicate.com/ @thesyndicate415    Founder university: https://www.founder.university/ @founderuni    Remote Demo Day  https://remotedemoday.com/ @remotedemoday

LAUNCH

We currently host three syndicates:  Jason's Syndicate Deals are selected and shared by Jason Calacanis. The SaaS Syndicate Our latest syndicate, launching on November 1st, focuses on software-as-a-service. The All-In Syndicate Deals are selected by three members of the All-In Podcast (Chamath Palihapitiya, David Friedberg, and Jason Calacanis).

The Syndicate.com

Bullpen is a venture capital fund that invests in post-seed capital into early-stage companies. Bullpen Capital launched 10 years ago, the goal was to back overlooked entrepreneurs left behind by the latest Silicon Valley fads. The firm's portfolio spans all categories from fantasy sports to data center equipment to restaurant SaaS. Bullpen was founded in 2010 by Paul Martino and is based in San Francisco, California, United States.

Bullpen Capital

FundersClub focuses on Seed and early stage investments. Investments include Coinbase, Instacart, Flexport, Le Tote, Teespring, Memebox, GitLab. FundersClub is the world's first online venture capital platform. Backed by Y Combinator, First Round Capital, Spark Capital, Intel Capital, Draper, Andreessen Horowitz, Felicis Ventures, and more; FundersClub Inc. was founded in 2012 and is based in the United States.

FundersClub

Forefront Venture Partners invests in innovative post-revenue companies led by dynamic, growth-oriented entrepreneurs.  We invest $200k-$500k in Seed and Series A rounds.

Forefront Venture Partners

Eudemian Ventures is a Silicon Valley venture capital firm with a transatlantic footprint investing in US Seed and Series A software startups with the potential to become global market leaders. The firm focus on AI, B2B SaaS, Consumer, Marketplaces, FinTech, and Digital Health software.

Eudemian Ventures

Founded by Natalie Massenet and Nick Brown, Imaginary Ventures is venture capital firm that invests in early–stage opportunities at the intersection of retail and technology in Europe and the US. The firm seeks to make investments in companies with a focus on the e-commerce space, including retail, fashion, lifestyle and beauty sectors in Europe. Imaginary Ventures is based in New York, New York. Investments include Farfetch, Reformation, Everlane, Necessaire, Daily Harvest, Glossier, Good American, Universal Standard and others.

Imaginary Ventures

Headline (formerly e.ventures) is a Venture Capital firm actively on the ground in 7 cities around the world. It invests across geographies, leading rounds at every stage. The firm's Early Stage Funds are based in the US, Europe, Asia, and Brazil, and invest locally. Its San Francisco-based Growth Fund invests globally from Series B and beyond, working in collaboration with their Early Stage Teams. The sizes and locations of these funds make it possible for them to see local trends up close, identify winning founders, and lead rounds at every stage. Sonos, The RealReal, Creditas, Sorare, Pismo, AppFolio, goPuff, Acorns, Farfetch, Segment, Bumble, and Yeahka are among the stars in Headline’s world. Headline was founded in San Francisco, California in 1998.

Headline

Interplay is a startup ecosystem where ideas scale. Our mission is to accelerate humankind’s potential by streamlining the journey of the entrepreneur.  Our ecosystem consists of five business lines that fall under three divisions: Capital, Studio, and Platform. Capital: Our venture capital arm invests in early stage, technology-enabled businesses in North America. We back startups that have demonstrated quantifiable financial and operational fundamentals, including a scaling customer base, early product-market fit and real revenue growth. Separately, our family office provides members full-service portfolio construction and investment management, with an emphasis on alternative assets via direct and fund investments. Additionally, members receive advisory-services for estate planning, philanthropic engagement, emergency planning, and tax optimization. Studio: We cofound and incubate companies. When we cofound a company, we’re typically starting from scratch – taking our own ideas and building them out of our foundry. Through our incubator, we support the growth of other teams by providing mentorship, enabling them to scale their company. Platform: Our platform consists of five service companies that provide core operating business solutions, including accounting, marketing, legal, professional development and outsourcing. In addition to the above services, we create educational content to help founders turn their vision into reality. Our two flagship pieces of content are a podcast that focuses on integral startup lessons for founders and a book about the rules of fundraising. We also manage a number of startup communities, including the largest entrepreneurship community associated with Columbia University called the Columbia Venture Community. To learn more visit our website and engage with us at interplay.vc/engage.

Interplay

Globivest is a private investment firm with a diversified portfolio of assets. Globivest focuses on innovative and scalable early stage start-ups and seeks to establish long term-relationships with visionary entrepreneurs while adding clear value in strategy and execution. Globivest also cares on having a positive social impact. a portion of the investments goes to innovative and conscious businesses that wish to make a difference in society.

Globivest

Good Friends help founders develop strong foundations for their businesses. Good Friends is a venture capital firm that was started in 2019 by the founders of Warby Parker, Harry's, and Allbirds. Good Friends invests in early-stage businesses with a consumer lens.

Good Friends

eVentures India (eVI) provides financial & operating support to India-centric and/or India leveraged emerging businesses in the New Media, partnering them through their life cycle to build successful and sustainable businesses. A joint venture between Softbank, ePartners (a News Corp. sponsored fund) and industrialist P. K. Mittal, the company works closely with its partners to add value to each business it associates with. eVI has offices in both Mumbai and New York. eVI targets attractive business segments based on a deep understanding of global trends, and partners with individuals or enterprises in these segments to establish successful businesses. They only work in those areas where they believe they can add value and dominate the segment

eVentures

Charge Ventures

Magic Fund is built on a thesis that smaller funds run by founders perform best in early-stage investing (pre-seed/seed). We're a fund of micro-funds run by repeat founders with strong expertise in specific industries and geographies.

MAGIC Fund

Investing in early to growth stage companies at the intersection of technology and retail

Pari Passu Venture Partners

Lone Pine Capital is an investment adviser that invests in equities and equity-related securities. It focuses on developing an investment platform that distils global, cross-sector idiosyncratic, and thematic research into concentrated portfolios in public or private markets. Stephen Mandel Jr., the low-key president and founder of Greenwich, Connecticutâ€“based Lone Pine Capital, returns a paltry 166 hits. Buying Google shares, however, has generated huge returns for many hedge fund managers, including Mandel.

Lone Pine Capital

Haney Business Ventures is an early stage investment firm based in Sacramento, California

Haney Business Ventures

The Chainsmokers is an electronic DJ and production company where indie artists release their remixes songs.

The Chainsmokers

Bond is a venture capital firm that supports visionary founders of high-growth Internet companies throughout their life cycle of innovation and growth. The firm, a spinout of the Kleiner Perkins Digital Growth Fund, was launched in January 2019 and founded by Mary Meeker with Mood Rowghani, Noah Knauf.

Bond

EFV is the venture arm of Electric Feel Entertainment with a focus on early-stage CPG + Consumer Tech startups

Electric Feel Ventures

Grin

GRIN is a marketing software that enables direct-to-consumer brands to collaborate and manage their relationships with influencers. It provides social platforms, e-commerce solutions, and communication tools. The software enables brands with the discovery and outreach to relationship management and campaigns, product seeding, discount codes and affiliate links, content and rights management, sales tracking, and deep analytics services. It also manages the logistics, record-keeping, analytics, and payment for influencer marketing. The Sacramento, California-based company was established by Brandon Brown, Brian Mechem, and Ryan Brown in 2014.

GRIN is a comprehensive influencer marketing platform designed to help brands manage their influencer programs efficiently. It streamlines the entire process, from identifying and recruiting suitable influencers to facilitating product seeding, campaign management, content tracking, and performance reporting. GRIN's key features include a vast creator database, advanced search capabilities, Shopify integration for seamless product fulfillment, automated communication workflows, and robust analytics tools.

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Influencer Marketing Growth

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Pros and Cons of GRIN 2024

Harnessing the power of social influence to fuel online sales

Social Commerce

<div>GRIN is a creator management platform that helps brands connect with creators. GRIN claims to have the world's largest database of creators, offering brands tools to discover 32 million creators across different platforms.&nbsp;</div>

Giving creators the power of content monetization and audience engagement.

Creator Economy

GRIN

Microsoft’s GRIN-MoE AI model takes on coding and math, beating competitors in key benchmarks

GRIN is a comprehensive influencer marketing platform designed to help brands manage their influencer programs efficiently. It streamlines the entire process, from identifying and recruiting suitable influencers to facilitating product seeding, campaign management, content tracking, and performance reporting. GRIN's key features include a vast creator database, advanced search capabilities, Shopify integration for seamless product fulfillment, automated communication workflows, and robust analytics tools.
GRIN's platform allows brands to discover and connect with influencers across various social media channels, including Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. By leveraging GRIN's extensive database, brands can filter and search for influencers that align with their target audience and campaign goals. The platform's Shopify integration simplifies the process of sending products to influencers, creating trackable links, and generating discount codes.
Once influencers are on board, GRIN enables brands to create and manage campaigns, define deliverables, and automate communication sequences. The platform tracks influencer content, captures user-generated content (UGC), and provides detailed performance metrics, including engagement rates, conversions, and revenue generated. GRIN's reporting capabilities allow brands to analyze the success of their influencer campaigns and make data-driven decisions.
Key customers and partnerships
GRIN has collaborated with notable brands such as MVMT, a luxury watch company, Lume Cube, a specialty lighting brand, tentree, an apparel brand, Darn Good Yarn, Tubby Todd, and Hush Blankets. These partnerships demonstrate GRIN's ability to cater to diverse industries and support businesses in scaling their influencer marketing efforts.

Hootsuite is a social media management platform that allows users to schedule, publish, monitor, and analyze social media content across multiple networks from a unified dashboard. Its key product offerings include content scheduling tools, social media monitoring and analytics, team collaboration features, social listening capabilities, and integrations with various social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
Hootsuite's core functionality revolves around the ability to streamline social media management processes by centralizing various social media activities into a single platform. Its scheduling tools enable users to plan and queue content for publishing across different social networks, while its monitoring features facilitate tracking brand mentions, competitor activities, and audience engagement. The platform's analytics tools provide insights into social media performance, aiding users in understanding the effectiveness of their social media strategies.
Hootsuite also emphasizes team collaboration by allowing multiple users to access and manage social media accounts, assign roles and permissions, and implement approval workflows for content publishing. Additionally, its social listening capabilities enable users to monitor conversations, trends, and keywords relevant to their brand or industry.
While Hootsuite offers a free trial and a limited free plan, its more advanced features are available through paid subscription plans, with pricing tiers ranging from the Professional plan at USD 99 per month (billed annually) to the Enterprise plan tailored for larger organizations with custom pricing.

Hootsuite

Bazaarvoice is a technology company that provides a Social Commerce AI suite, enabling brands to curate and showcase user-generated content across various social media platforms. Its flagship product, the Media Library, serves as a centralized hub for collecting, publishing, and managing social content from customers, influencers, partners, and the brand itself. This tool leverages AI-powered features to sort, tag, and prioritize high-performing media content, streamlining workflow and expediting legal approvals.
The company's Social Commerce AI suite offers a range of solutions to optimize social engagement and drive conversions. It generates on-brand photo captions, surfaces authentic user-generated content aligned with the brand's identity, and identifies top trends and themes for social media strategies. Bazaarvoice's Like2Buy solution allows brands to create shoppable Instagram and TikTok feeds, where visitors can browse products, read posts, and make purchases directly from the social storefront.
Additionally, Bazaarvoice's Showroom feature transforms photos and videos into interactive storefronts, enabling users to discover new products through visually appealing AI-powered experiences. This approach has proven effective, with 46% of Showroom visits converting to ecommerce sessions.
In terms of performance metrics, the company's solutions have demonstrated impressive results. Like2Buy visitors convert to ecommerce sessions at a rate of 59%, and these referred visitors tend to spend more time browsing, view more pages, and have higher average order values compared to average mobile consumers.

Bazaarvoice

NTWRK is a curated live video shopping platform that offers exclusive access to limited-edition products across various categories like sneakers, streetwear, collectibles, and more. It revolutionized the ecommerce industry by combining live streaming with online shopping, creating an engaging and interactive experience for consumers.
NTWRK's platform allows customers to watch live streams hosted by influencers, celebrities, or brand representatives who showcase and discuss the featured products. During these events, viewers can interact through live chat, ask questions, and make purchases seamlessly without leaving the video stream. This innovative approach provides transparency, fosters a sense of community, and creates a sense of urgency and exclusivity around the products on offer.
Since its inception in 2018, NTWRK has partnered with renowned artists, brands, and personalities such as Post Malone, Lewis Hamilton, BLACKPINK, and Takashi Murakami, offering their fans unprecedented access to exclusive collaborations and limited releases. The company has been at the forefront of the live stream shopping industry, which is estimated to reach USD 68 billion in sales by 2026 in the US alone.
In February 2024, NTWRK acquired the popular youth culture media company Complex, marking a significant step in its evolution. By merging Complex's content and reach with NTWRK's ecommerce platform, the combined entity aims to create a comprehensive digital hub for "superfan" culture, encompassing commerce, digital media, and music.
Key customers and partnerships
Through its strategic partnership with Universal Music Group (UMG), NTWRK gained access to industry-leading music labels like Interscope Geffen A&M (IGA) and Capitol Music Group. This collaboration allows NTWRK to deliver exclusive collaborations and cultural experiences directly to passionate music fans, deepening the connection between artists and their audiences.
Notable partnerships include exclusive collaborations with BLACKPINK x Murakami and the Interscope 30th Anniversary vinyl collection, featuring dialogues between visual artists like Damien Hirst, Kehinde Wiley, and Ed Ruscha, and iconic Interscope artists from the past three decades.

NTWRK

ShopShops is a live-shopping platform that allows hosts to showcase and sell products in real-time to viewers through livestreaming. The company primarily focuses on the fashion and lifestyle segment, offering pre-owned luxury and designer brands. ShopShops' business model involves connecting retail brands with creators, referred to as hosts, who can represent and sell the brands' products through live video sessions.
The platform operates as a three-sided marketplace, facilitating the interaction between brands, hosts, and consumers. Brands can hire hosts on an hourly or event basis to showcase their products during live streams, providing a personalized shopping experience to viewers. This approach aims to bridge the gap between traditional retail and ecommerce by replicating an offline shopping experience online.
ShopShops initially launched in China in 2017 and observed consumer behavior similar to the early adoption phase of live shopping in that market. The company entered the US market in 2022, recognizing the growth potential as American consumers become more receptive to this shopping format. ShopShops anticipates that by 2024, major US brands will incorporate live streaming into their marketing strategies, following a similar trajectory to the adoption of platforms like TikTok.
While live shopping in the US is expected to be more segmented across vertical categories compared to China's more centralized platforms, ShopShops believes its focus on the female fashion and lifestyle vertical positions it well for success. The platform aims to expand into other verticals such as home and arts in the future.

ShopShops

Platforms for creating, scheduling, and managing a brand or independent seller’s social media presence. A number of these platforms also provide AI-powered social listening and data analytics tools to gauge customer sentiment.

AI-powered tools for automatically monitoring and responding to customer queries across multiple social media channels.

Platforms for identifying and managing influencers to promote and sell products and services through social media.

Tools typically used by influencers to demonstrate and sell products and services via social media. The solutions are the digital equivalents of live teleshopping programs.

Platforms for curating and displaying customer reviews, recommendations, and product and service feedback on a brand or independent sellers' social media pages and websites.

Tools to create and implement instant shopping features to an image or video advertisement

Increases transparency of the effectiveness of social commerce by providing solutions for attribution and measurement

Relevant for social chatbots segment that uses AI/ML to provide automated responses to customers

Creates virtual assets for Metaverse stores and marketing on metaverse platforms

Social media platforms such as Snap are developing AR solutions for live shopping experiences

<div>
 
 GRIN is a creator management platform that helps brands connect with creators. GRIN claims to have the world's largest database of creators, offering brands tools to discover 32 million creators across different platforms.&nbsp;
 
 
 GRIN platform features include
 
 
 1) Relationship management tools, such as a communications hub for brands and creators, which integrates with platforms such as Gmail, Slack, and Outlook&nbsp;
 
 
 2) Creator Discovery Suite, introduced in 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/18647">
 May 2023
 </a>
 , which helps brands discover creators across social platforms
 
 
 3) Reporting and analytics, which provide KPIs, influencer analytics, ROI on creators and campaigns
 
 
 4) Content management for organizing and tracking creator content&nbsp;
 
 
 5) Product seeding, which includes ecommerce integrations&nbsp;
 
 
 6) Payments tools for tracking spending and paying creators
 
 
 GRIN provides creators with various features and advantages, including access to detailed metrics such as engagement rate, follower demographics, and audience insights. They offer multiple payment options to ensure timely and convenient compensation. Creators also receive curated products to feature in their content and benefit from improved communication with brand partners. Additionally, GRIN offers a tracking dashboard where creators can monitor their conversions and earnings.
 
 
 GRIN also features a Creator Referral Program whereby creators who introduce GRIN to brands will receive an ongoing referral fee of 10% of the annual license fee for any brand they refer to GRIN, ensuring a continuous revenue stream. By becoming a partner of GRIN&rsquo;s Referral Program, creators can integrate their content and services with GRIN, offering a bundled solution to their clients that includes GRIN's features and benefits. Referral partners also enjoy exclusive access to information about GRIN's services, including new product releases. Additionally, creators will have access to co-branded marketing materials, whitepapers, and webinars to enhance their promotional efforts. GRIN takes care of the costs associated with selling, closing deals, implementing the software, and servicing the brands creators refer.
 
 
 There are no costs or ongoing requirements for participation in GRIN's Referral Partnership Program. For services to companies and brands, GRIN tailors its pricing according to the specific needs of a brand, depending on factors such as the size and duration of the intended campaign, the number of influencers for a given campaign, etc.
 
 
 Key customers and partners
 
 
 The noteworthy brands using GRIN include SKIMS, Warby Parker, Allbirds, Mejuri, and MVMT.
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 GRIN&rsquo;s most recent funding round was in October 2021 when it raised USD 110 million in Series B funding. The round was led by Lone Pine Capital and included investors such as BOND, a host of top content creators, Danielle Bernstein (of WeWoreWhat), Devon Levesque, The Chainsmokers, and others. The value of the company post-funding was USD 910 million and it stated it would use the funding to further develop its executive leadership teams and venture into global markets.
 
 
 
</div>

<div>
 
 Patreon provides a platform for creators to offer numerous types of content (videos, text, podcasts, images, etc.) for which fans can subscribe to a monthly membership without any ads or algorithms. Patrons (Patreon subscribers) can pay monthly or per post for content access, in addition to the pay-what-you-want option. Creators are paid monthly or for every new post uploaded. They can offer rewards for different tiers, including meeting patrons or custom work upon the patron&rsquo;s request. Creators are offered three packages: Lite, Pro, and Premium. Lite offers basic creator tools for a membership business with no tiers for fans; Pro offers additional tools and perks (e.g., workshops) with unlimited membership tiers; Premium caters to established companies with a large following, earning a monthly income of USD 5,000 or more, offering Pro services in addition to advanced features and Dedicated Partner Manager services. Creators can start for free and are charged a monthly commission based on their plan when they start earning: 5% (Lite), 8% (Pro), and 12% (Premium), as well as payment processing fees. 
 
 
 The company revealed in November 2021 that it is building a video hosting platform with a native player to eliminate the reliance of third-party video hosting platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo for creators to share video content with their patrons.
 
 
 Memberful, a Patreon-owned membership software platform for independent creators, launched a newsletter feature in October 2021, allowing creators to send news emails to their subscribers. In the future, creators will be able to make posts publicly viewable and schedule and send targeted emails to specific groups of subscribers. Notably, Memberful&rsquo;s paid plans (charged monthly) retain 4.9% of creator revenue, while competitor Substack retains 10%.
 
 
 Patreon acquired tech recruiting firm, Clear Talent, in August 2021 to scale up talent and build its engineering, product, and design team. The company seeks to accelerate the introduction of new features and platform capabilities and double the total monthly revenue its creators earn to around USD 200 million. In October 2023, the firm 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/22877">
 acquired Moment,
 </a>
 a digital events platform, to strengthen event management solutions for creators.
 
 
 Key 
 customers
 and partnerships
 
 
 As of August 2022, Patreon had more than 250,000 creators, over 8.5 million active subscribers, and had paid out more than USD 3.5 billion to creators. 
 
 
 In June 2021, Patreon partnered with shesaid.so, an international community of women and gender minorities, to co-present the Alternative Power 100 Music List 2021 (#AltList) with the theme &ldquo;The New Creative Economy.&rdquo; Patreon and shesaid.so aim to make the music industry more inclusive and will co-host a series of virtual and physical events (including panel discussions and creator networking). The company has also partnered with third-party services, including Vimeo (to host videos) and Discord (for community chats).
 
 
 Funding
 
 and
 financials
 
 
 The company&rsquo;s most recent funding round was a Series F round worth USD 155 million in April 2021, led by new investor Tiger Global Management. This round triples Patreon&rsquo;s valuation to USD 4 billion. The funds are to be used to further develop its platform for mobile and desktop, increase content consumption tools, and accelerate its international footprint.
 
 
 The total cumulative payouts to creators via the platform surpassed USD 2 billion as of September 2020, and the company expects annual payouts to pass USD 1 billion in 2021. 
 
</div>

Patreon

<div>
 
 Substack offers a publishing platform that encompasses design, analytics, and payment infrastructure to assist newsletter subscriptions. The platform enables writers to focus on content creation and monetization via subscriptions. Writers can build their own paid newsletter subscription businesses and may choose to start with free newsletters for lead generation. Newsletters can be published to the web in addition to individual email addresses and its mobile app.&nbsp; The platform has a dedicated discovery section ranking the top newsletters, which are then promoted based on &ldquo;internet points&rdquo;. The platform supports podcasting by allowing writers to embed MP3s into their newsletters.
 
 
 The company launched multiple product improvements over the years, including video creation and editing features (
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/24569">
 November 2023,
 </a>
 the capacity to publish video podcasts, create interactive AI-generated transcripts, and customize shareable video clips
 ), AI-powered audio transcription tools (
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/21412">
 August 2023,
 </a>
 featuring transcript generation and audiogram creation capabilities), Private Substacks (
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/15987">
 January 2023,
 </a>
 where readers can request to subscribe to read users posts) Substack Grow (
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/4243">
 August 2021
 </a>
 , to help writers add paying subscribers in), Substack Local (
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/3163">
 April 2021
 </a>
 , an initiative to support the local news ecosystem), Substack Pro (to offer advance payments for certain writers), Substack Defender (July 2020, to offer legal support to writers in).&nbsp;&nbsp;
 
 
 Writers have to bring in their own readers, and once they start earning (at a minimum of USD 3 per month), a commission of 10% (plus the Stripe payment processing fee) will be charged on the writer&rsquo;s income. Additionally, Substack stated that it has no plans to include advertisements as an additional revenue stream within the platform. By July 2021, the company reported its top 10 publishers bring in more than USD 20 million per year in combined subscription revenue. Moreover, the company has attracted famous journalists such as Andrew Sullivan, Casey Newton, and Edith Zimmerman. Substack had more than 500,000 paid subscribers as of March 2021.&nbsp;
 
 
 Other notable events include the acquisition of subscription-based social networking app Cocoon in 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/5113">
 August 2021
 </a>
 , the acquisition of Australian public correspondence startup Letter in 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/4601">
 July 2021
 </a>
 and the funding of podcast network Booksmart Studio&rsquo;s launch in 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/4390">
 July 2021
 </a>
 .
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 The company&rsquo;s most recent funding round was Series B funding worth USD 65 million in 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/3156">
 March 2021
 </a>
 . The round was led by return investor Andreessen Horowitz, valuing Substack at approximately USD 650 million. The funds are to be utilized to rapidly expand the Substack Pro program alongside the implementation of other features.&nbsp;
 
 
 Substack reported a net loss of USD 22.9 million in 2021, having grown from a net loss of USD 2.3 million in 2020.
 
</div>

Substack

<div>
 
 Cameo offers a platform where creators, such as influencers, celebrities, athletes, artists, and musicians, can provide personalized videos and shout-outs to fans as per their request, charging for each video from USD 5 to as high as USD 2,500. Creators who have a minimum of 20,000 Instagram followers are automatically admitted onto the platform, where they set their own price and can choose to accept a fan request or not within seven days. The creator must fulfill the request within a week, which the fan can download and share. Additionally, Cameo provides a messaging option for less expensive creator/fan interactions. Cameo takes a 25% commission on each transaction on the platform.
 
 
 As of September 2020, Cameo had more than 30,000 creators across multiple industries. Cameo reported that it generated around USD 100 million in video transactions in 2020, with more than 2 million video messages being shared on its platform since launch, of which 80% were gifts for others. Furthermore, the company reported its creators and fans are based in 138 and 178 countries, respectively, with almost 20% of Cameos being purchased from outside of the US as of March 2021. For example, Cameo entered into a commercial partnership (
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/8576">
 February 2022
 </a>
 ) with Softbank, an existing investor of Cameo, to add more Japanese creators and expand its platform in Japan as a culturally fluent localized version.
 
 
 Cameo acquired marketing and merch company Represent (October 2021) whose clients include Jennifer Lopez, Ed Sheeran, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Matthew McConaughey, among others. The acquiring company will onboard the Represent team as well as Represent&rsquo;s existing client relationships. In the near term, Cameo plans to allow fans to purchase &ldquo;gift bundles&rdquo; that pair a Cameo video with related merchandise from the creator. The company hopes to introduce new forms of creator-fan engagement, establish new creator revenue opportunities, and offer non-profit organizations a new way to raise funds.
 
 
 Funding and financials 
 
 
 The company&rsquo;s most recent funding round was Series C funding worth USD 100 million in March 2021, which valued the company at over USD 1 billion, achieving unicorn status. The funds are to be utilized to enhance the Core Cameo experience and capabilities, create new creator-fan engagement products (including Fan Clubs and Cameo Calls), and develop Cameo's B2B business. The company also plans to continue its international expansion.
 
</div>

Cameo

<div>
 
 Buttondown offers a publishing platform for writers to create and distribute newsletters on a subscription basis (price set by the writer) or for free. The platform does not charge writers until they reach 1,000 subscribers, after which they are charged a monthly fee of USD 5 per thousand subscribers. Buttondown also offers advanced features for professionals at a monthly fee of USD 29. Writers can send multiple separate newsletters from the same account, catering to different audiences by maintaining separate mailing lists.
 
 
 The platform also provides writers with user-specific analytics and insights, including features such as side-by-side comparisons of multiple emails. Buttondown has integrated with numerous third-party providers, Ghost and Medium (blogging platforms), Squarespace and Weebly (website building and hosting service providers), and web application integrator, Zapier.  As of December 2020, the company is run entirely by the CEO and founder, Justin Duke, and reported to have a monthly cost base of around USD 1,100. Furthermore, the CEO has made a commitment to donate at least 10% of profits to the software that enables it.
 
</div>

Buttondown

<div>
 
 Disciple Media, headquartered in the UK, offers bespoke community media apps for creators to privately share and own their content while having control, especially regarding monetization. Creators can use the platform to promote their brand, increase reach and engagement with fans, and monetize by charging fans a monthly subscription for access in addition to in-app purchases, sponsorship, and advertising. The company claims that the app-creating process had been reduced to 10 minutes since 2017.
 
 
 The company reported 200% revenue growth and recurring revenue growth of 160% in 2020. As of July 2021, the platform has reached over 500 global communities (up from 200 in May 2020) with 2 million members using the platform. The company claims that the growth of recurring revenue by more than 850% in 2019 was driven by monthly growth of 15% in new communities and 20% in members.
 
 
 Disciple Media raised USD 6 million in a Series A funding round in July 2021, led by previous investors including Nick Mason (Pink Floyd drummer) and Rob Pierre (founder and CEO of Jellyfish), among others. In addition to the company&rsquo;s fundraising, Eirik Svendsen&mdash;an expert in online marketplaces, SaaS, and the publishing and media industry&mdash;has come on as Chairman of the Board.
 
</div>

Disciple Media

Platforms that allow creators to share several types of content. Some platforms also offer fan engagement/ interactions with the creative artist via videos/ live streams.

Platforms that offer exclusive content to signed up members.

Platforms that allow creators to share their written works and blogs.

Platforms that provide tools to discover relevant analytics, produce content, engage with the audience, and help with the overall process.

Platforms that allow creators to share one of either videography, live streams, photos, music or audio podcasts with fan engagement capabilities.

Blockchain-based Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) allow creators to transfer ownership of their content via platforms that share proceeds with buyers, sellers, creators, and platforms via smart contracts.

Web3 enables creator monetization by providing decentralized platforms for creators to engage with their audience

NFT platforms segment uses metaverse concepts

DISRUPTOR_PRESENT

PROMINENT_CATEGORY

GRIN, a creator management platform, has introduced Professional Services to assist direct-to-consumer brands in creating and managing creator programs. The offering includes expert guidance and support for establishing and optimizing these programs. The services come in modular options, where GRIN experts fill gaps in existing programs, and end-to-end services, where GRIN experts oversee the entire program from beginning to end.

GRIN

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