Over the past years, the creator economy has skyrocketed, enabling bloggers, social media influencers, podcasters, TikTokers, and YouTubers to earn from publishing their content. Venture capitalists have been huge financial backers of this booming market, especially after COVID-19, with more and more willing to cash in on startups helping content creators grow and monetize.
According to data presented by OnlyAccounts.io, content creator startups have raised around $2.9bn in total funding so far.
More than $800M Raised in 2022, the Record Year for Content Creators` Funding
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the creator economy was a space few investors were paying attention. However, a lot has changed over the past four years, with content creation becoming one of the top career choices for Millennials and GenZs.
Although the online influencer culture started to draw interest even from big venture capital firms, VCs are not investing in content creators themselves but in digital tools and services, helping them operate and monetize.
In 2018, content creator startups raised $116.7 million, with the cumulative funding amount reaching over $920 million that year, according to Crunchbase data. A year later, this figure jumped to $1.2bn, with companies raising around $279 million in funding rounds. After a significant slowdown in 2022, the investment activity soared in 2021, bringing around $600 million of fresh capital into the market. Still, that was nothing compared to 2022, a record year for content creators’ funding.
The Crunchbase data show funding to venture-backed startups focused on content creators reached $800 million last year, pushing the cumulative funding amount to $2.7bn. Statistics show this value increased by another $200 million year-to-date, with content creator startups raising around $2.9bn in total.
US Content Creator Startups Raised $1.5B, more than European and Asian Companies Combined
Statistics show US content creator startups have raised far more money than their competitors in Europe and Asia. More than half of the total funding, or around $1.5bn, went to companies from the United States, with California as the leading hub.
Asian companies follow with around $685 million, while European venture-backed startups have raised just over $470 million.
The CrunchBase data showed that two out of the three most active investors in the content creators industry also come from the United States. One of the largest pre-seed investors in the world, the Colorado-based Techstars, has participated in 22 funding rounds so far. The US startup accelerator, Y Combinator, follows with 13 founding rounds. Statistics show that Singapore-based Antler is the third most active investor in this hub, with 11 funding rounds so far.
