- The creator economy is attracting the attention of venture capitalists – and their portfolios.
- Creator-focused startups are raising millions of dollars.
- Here are the pitch decks that 32 startups used during the Series A, seed, and pre-seed rounds.
The creator economy has given rise to a new generation of startups, from influencer marketing companies to new social media experiments.
These startups have attracted the attention and wallets of influential angel and venture capitalists in recent years, giving rise to several unicorn valuations in the space, such as the link-in-bio service Linktree (valued at 1 .3 billion in 2022) and affiliate marketing platform LTK (valued at $2 billion at the end of 2021).
Check 14 VCs investing in innovative startups focused on the creator and influencer economy
Even though the economy has weathered the changing tides and investment has slowed across all sectors, some startups in this sector continue to raise funds.
Several startups have announced seven-figure fundraising rounds in 2023, including Web3-inspired social network Seam Social’s $2.5 million round in December. Last year also saw several follow-on funding rounds, like that of Whop, an e-commerce marketplace for digital goods, which announced its $17 million Series A in July. Karat, a financial startup for creators, raised a $70 million Series B in June – although it proves that a big venture capital round does not guarantee stability, since the company subsequently proceeded to layoffs in October.
Here is 16 creator economy startups that raised the most money in 2023.
So how do creator economy startups get these investments? Often this starts with a pitch deck.
Lumanu, a creator-focused financial startup, uses a simple pitch deck that’s more like a “conversation guide,” its co-founder and CEO Tony Tran told BI.
“My pitch is always why, what, how and why now?” » said Tran. (Read the full pitch deck here.)
Skye, a career coaching startup, had different pitch decks depending on the type of investor or fund they pitched their project to.
“I had two different versions, depending on the fund,” said Jessica Wolf, CEO of Skye and one of its co-founders. “If I knew a fund was more focused on pre-seed, and focused solely on the founder, I had one deck of cards. But if I knew they were passionate about numbers, I would use another deck .”
Each startup has a different approach.
Some, like Throne, even ditch the pitch deck altogether and opt for an email or Notion document.
Read it Economical Startup Throne of Used Email Template Builder to secure your seed investment.
BI spoke with founders who pitched their startups to investors about their process. They broke the pitch decks they used to get millions of dollars in funding.
Read the pitch decks that helped 32 creator-focused startups raise millions of dollars:
Note: Pitch decks are sorted by investment stage and round size.
Series A
- Restream, a live streaming alternative to platforms like Twitch, owned by Amazon: $50 million, Series A (14 pages)
- Pearpop, creator marketing platform: $18 million Series A (18 pages)
- Spoon Radio, a social audio startup: $17 million Series A (15 pages)
- Kyra, a content studio, talent management company and influencer marketing platform: $15 million, Series A (20 pages)
- Allstar, a startup that helps gamers become social media creators: $12 million, Series A (6 pages)
- Lumanu, a business solutions platform for creators: $12 million, Series A (8 pages)
- Hype, a platform for links in bio and other monetization tools for creators: $10 million, Series A (13 pages)
- Catch+Release, a startup that helps creators and everyday users of social media license their content to brands: $8.8 million, Series A (12 pages)
- Slip.stream, a music startup focused on gamers: $7.5 million Series A (13 pages)
- Brag House, an esports startup: $5 million Series A (24 pages)
Seed
- Scenario, a generative AI startup to create art and gaming assets: $6 million seed (8 pages)
- Authoritive, an online course development startup: $5 million seed (11 pages)
- Dharma, a travel startup for creators and brands: $4.7 million pre-Series A (17 pages)
- Glystn, an AI-powered community management platform: $4 million seed (15 pages)
- Anima, augmented reality startup: $3 million (15 pages)
- Grandstand, a sports startup working with athlete creators: $2.75 million
- Seam Social, a new Web3 social media platform: $2.5 million (10 pages)
- Spark, a digital art platform from YouTuber Moriah Elizabeth: $2.5 million (9 pages)
- Insense, a startup that helps e-commerce brands get low-cost ads: $2.5 million pre-Series A (9 pages)
- Supercast, a podcast subscription startup: $2 million seed (20 pages)
- Chartmetric, a music data and measurement company: $2 million seed (46 pages)
- Ultimate Playlist, a music marketing startup: $2 million funding round (9 pages)
- Magroove, a music distribution and discovery platform: $1.6 million startup (21 pages)
- Stagetime, a professional networking startup for performing artists: $1.5 million seed (13 pages)
- Jubilee Media, a content studio looking to expand beyond YouTube and TikTok: $1.1 million seed and counting (12 pages)
Pre-boot
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