Cleo Capital Creator Economy Market Map

Cleo Capital is a thesis-driven fund focused on 3 key areas: The Future of Income, Complicated Consumer, and Decentralized Enterprise. We primarily lead rounds at Pre-Seed, working with amazing founders from day zero. This article is a deep dive into one sector we invest in: the Creator Economy.

The ascension of social media gave rise to the creator economy, which is now 50 million strong. As the space is still growing and becoming more prominent, new tools are democratizing access for creators to maintain ownership over their work. Moving forward, we expect to see more companies moving into this area.

Democratized Monetization

In the past, creators have been largely reliant on brands and major platforms like YouTube for monetization. Unfortunately, this power imbalance comes at the expense of creators; for example, 98% of YouTube creators have earnings below the US poverty line. Hence, emerging companies are working towards greater accessibility for creator monetization. rewardStyle and its spinoff LikeToKnow.it pioneered this space by giving brands and influencers a space to connect with a focus on influencer power.

Monetization for creators has moved beyond revenue shares and brand partnerships. There are exciting emerging companies in this space that streamline the process for creators to build out their own product lines. Brands like Pietra empower creators with a soup-to-nuts toolkit to expand their presence and opportunities to engage their audiences offline.

Democratized Management

With their increased ascension, creator and influencer marketing agencies have popped up to meet the demand of the burgeoning industry. Yet, traditional agencies may not meet the needs of burgeoning creators who want to take their content and business management into their own hands. So, companies are stepping in to target creators’ specific needs. For instance, Spotter aims to provide creators with financial and business management services to maintain their independence.

Content management is another critical area of democratization for creators. Companies want to help creators subvert traditional management systems to use software created specifically for creators and lessen their need to outsource. One-stop shops for content creation and management like Kajabi and Descript give creators the power to make, edit, and publish their work efficiently.

Opportunities for Democratization

Given the trend towards empowering creators, there are exciting possibilities for platforms to further their impact in this space. For example, we’re seeing the emergence of analytical tools that help creators understand and maintain their audiences like Stan and Contenda. As creators mature and want to continue to monetize their brands, such tools will be more and more critical. Additionally, tools like Stir allow creators to analyze and understand their revenue streams through easy integrations.

As the creator market continues to expand, we’re excited to see new tools that continue to put the power into creators’ hands.

Byline: Cassandra Duchan Saucedo (she/her)
Stanford MBA & Harvard MPP 2023