The creator economy has grown dramatically in recentyears. More than 50 million people worldwide now considerthemselves content creators, and the size of the market hasgrown to more than $104 billion USD according to CreatorMarketing Hub. During 2021, investors pouredapproximately more than $1.3 billion USD of venture moneyinto the creator economy, indicating a high level ofconfidence in the sector with great opportunity of valuecreation. Due to this growth of the creator economy and theimpact those creators generate in the new generation extremely interested in making creator/creator marketing abig part of their marketing strategy, but have you ever triedto contact and/or hire an creator? This pain is a commondenominator for small and medium-sized brands, such asenterprises, whereas of today there is no communicationchannel to contact and work with content creators. AsAlessandra Angelini, CEO & Co-Founder at Influur, hasmentioned, this is a real pain point that she suffered back inthe days as a CNN journalist. “It was easier for [Alessandra]to contact and interview a senator, congressman or even apresident of a fortune 500 company than to contact ancreator.” For this reason, Alessandra Angelini, ValeriaAngelini, Paula Coleman and Estefany Oliveira cametogether to create Influur. Influur is the super app forcreators and brands that enables a better relationshipbetween both parties, attacking problems regardingconnecting with creators, uncertainty of payments, and thenon-existence of tracking campaign results. Due to this,Influur is an all-in-one marketplace that makes it easy forbrands and creators to connect, post & apply to jobopportunities, negotiate deals, and pay securely.
In analyzing the opportunity, we spoke with several SMEbrands and large enterprises who suffered with the sameproblem that Influur is trying to solve and we ultimatelydecided to back the company in December 2021 alongsideinvestors such as P72, Magma, among others. Below is asummary of several aspects of the investment thesis:
Influur’s Community:
Through the platform, creators andBrands can connect, post statuses, like, and comment onthe app; thereby creating an organic community. Thecommunity is creating network effects, growing at a fastpace due to its social engagement for all users.
Creator-centric platform/APP:
It is important to understandthe user, in this case the creator/content creator, that alwaysuses his phone and not his computer. Therefore many oftoday’s competitors’ solutions are not suitable for creatorsas they are web-based (one-sided marketplace) not offeringan end-2-end solution for both parties. Influur being ancreator-centric platform/APP with its socialmedia/community component has created a combination to offer traditional financial services and social media engagement to satisfy both brands and creators. Below we summarize a few features that differentiate Influur to solve the pain points that brands and creators have:
- Matching & recommendation engine: Influur users can search and work with any creator or brand worldwide.
- Posting & applying to job opportunities: Influur allows creators to apply to jobs.
- “Let’s Work Together (LWT’s)” feature: Influurs’ proprietary process to secure a transaction/job opportunity from start to finish.
- Paying securely/Wallet: Creators get paid on time, right after a campaign/job is done, (which was not a standard practice).
- FinTech Solution: Advance invoice factoring, no need to wait 30/60/90 days to get paid by brands.
- Community-based: Creators and brands share to the world what they are working on while they grow their network on Influur.
For these reasons, we are excited to partner with Alessandra Angelini, Paula Coleman, Valeria Angelini, and Fefi Oliveira to connect brands and creator across the world. Please see Influur’s webpage for additional information.