Home     |     Startup Lists
Top Creator Economy Startups

Top Creator Economy Startups to Watch (and Work for) in 2023

July 20, 2023
      |      Kieran Ryan
100 Thieves cash app compound

My Background

Hi, I'm Kieran! I worked in startups for five years at On Deck and Wefunder. Some of my favorite things that I've worked on during my career include:

  • Wefunder Workaway: 12 founders working on a new idea, 7 days, 1 mansion in Hawaii. One of the teams we picked raised a Series A from Andreessen Horowitz, and two people who met during the trip got married...
  • On Deck: As employee #15, I contributed to the startup's growth from no revenue to a $20 million run rate in less than a year. I led the team that built the admission infrastructure to support and scale ~20 fellowships for founders, capital allocators, operators, and creators.
  • XX: Worked on a pre-YC accelerator program that invested $125K on an MFN SAFE into 8-10 teams per cohort.
  • ODX: Worked on a $100 million accelerator program that invested $125K for 7% into 100s of startups. We partnered with leaders like Flexport to build vertical industry tracks around supply chain & logistics, etc.
  • Ryan Marketing: Created an influencer marketing startup (2 million+ Instagram followers) during college with my twin brother and realized early that monetization for creators was broken. I learned a lot, and it paid enough to cover my schooling, rent, and meals.

The Methodology

I considered several data points to arrive at the startups selected on this list, including company traction, funding raised, valuation, and investors. From my initial list, I then referenced each startup with my personal network to narrow down the list to the one you see below. I take my credibility seriously, so I do not take any money from startups who want to be included on this list to remain impartial. If you want to understand my analysis of startups and prefer long-form content, read my research on the top startups of 2023 afterward.

OnlyFans logo

OnlyFans

A social platform revolutionizing creator and fan connections.

Headquarters

London, England, United Kingdom

Industry

Creators

Founded

2016

Funding

None

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • OnlyFans’ 2022 metrics: $12.5 billion GMV, $2.5 billion net revenue, $1.2 billion free cash flow.
  • OnlyFans has paid out $3.2 billion since its inception and helps more than 60,000 creators earn $50,000 annually.

Spotter Logo

Spotter

Empowering Youtube creators.

Headquarters

Culver City, California

Industry

Creators

Founded

2019

Funding

$230.6 million

Valuation

$1.7 billion

Traction

  • As of July 2023, Spotter has signed 1,160+ creator partnerships, $775 million paid to creators, and 3.4 billion in subscribers.
  • As of October 2022, Spotter’s average check size is $1.5 million, and the minimum is $15,000.
  • As of October 2022, Spotter claims to be on track to invest $1 billion by mid-2023.
Jellysmack Logo

Jellysmack

Content creator amplification and solutions.

Headquarters

New York, New York

Industry

Creators

Founded

2016

Funding

$991 million

Valuation

$3 billion

Traction

  • As of July 2023, Jellysmack has 500+ creator partners, 10 billion+ monthly video views, 6 billion+ monthly story views, and 125 million+ monthly unique US viewers.
  • As of May 2021, Jellysmack reported creators yield 25 million - 300 million in incremental monthly views by using the platform.
  • As of May 2021, creators on the platform include PewDiePie, MrBeast, Bailey Sarian, Derek Deso, Karina Garcia, Charles & Alyssa Forever, and Brad Mondo.
Beacons Logo

Beacons

The all-in-one platform for creators.

Headquarters

San Francisco, California

Industry

Creators, Consumer

Founded

2019

Funding

$6.2 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • As of June 2023, 2 million creators use Beacons.
  • Between October 2020 and May 2021, Beacons reported 70% MoM growth.
Hype Logo

Hype

The creator headquarters.

Headquarters

New York, New York

Industry

Creators

Founded

2016

Funding

$20 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • As of April 5, 2023, Hype has helped creators make $30 million in revenue and collect 4 million phone and email contacts.
Stan Logo

Stan

Your creator store.

Headquarters

New York, New York

Industry

Creators

Founded

2020

Funding

$5 million

Valuation

$25 million

Traction

  • As of June 2023, Stan has $2.6 million in annual recurring revenue and 6,500 active creators on the platform.
100 Thieves Logo

100 Thieves

An American lifestyle brand and gaming company.

Headquarters

Culver City, California

Industry

Gaming, Creators

Founded

2017

Funding

$120 million

Valuation

$460 million

Traction

  • In 2021, 100 Thieves won Esports Organization of the Year at the Esports Awards.
  • In 2021, 100 Thieves’ revenue doubled YoY and achieved 111% top-line growth.
Flagship Logo

Flagship

Turn your community into a thriving business with a flagship boutique.

Headquarters

San Francisco, California

Industry

Retail, Creators

Founded

2022

Funding

Undisclosed

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • Flagship brand customers include Milton & Goose, Caraway, Lovevery, BruMate, Nathan James, and St. Roche.
  • Flagship creator customers include Alicia Lund (@aliciamlund), Beverley Mitchell (@beverleymitchell), Heather Nicholson (@daughtersandthings), Katie Staples (@halfwaywholeistic), Chelsey Carele (@chelseycarele), and Marquis Clarke (@simplyclarke)
Intro Logo

Intro

Book experts & get advice.

Headquarters

Los Angeles, California

Industry

Consumer, Marketplace, Creators

Founded

2020

Funding

$10 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • As of October 2021, Intro’s marketplace had ~75 experts and facilitated 500 sessions in the first two months of operations.
  • Experts on Intro’s marketplace include Neil Parikh (Founder of Casper), Alli Web (Founder of Drybar), Alexis Ohanian (Founder of Reddit), Liana Levi (Founder & Lead Instructor of Forma Pilates), Heidi Zak (CEO of ThirdLove), and Rachel Zoe (Celebrity Stylist).
Maven Logo

Maven

Live, online courses.

Headquarters

Remote

Industry

Consumer, Edtech, Creators

Founded

2020

Funding

$25.1 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • As of May 2021, Maven courses had a ~75% completion rate.
  • Within three months of launching, the company did over $1 million in revenue from four live courses.
  • As of May 2023, Maven has 400+ courses on the platform, including Shreyas Doshi (Managing your PM Career in 2023 & beyond), Anthony Pompliano (Crypto Academy Training Program), and Christine Carrillo (The 20 Hour CEO).
Autograph Logo

Autograph

Building the future of fandom.

Headquarters

Los Angeles, California

Industry

Consumer, Creators, Cryptocurrency

Founded

2021

Funding

$205 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • As of June 2023, celebrities using Autograph include Tom Brady, Derek Jeter, Tony Hawk, Rob Gronkowski, Tiger Woods, Simone Biles, Naomi Osaka, and Usain Bolt.
  • As of June 2023, Autograph has 49,487 Discord members.
  • As of November 2021, Autograph has sold more than 100,000 NFTs.
Cameo Logo

Cameo

Personalized videos featuring your favorite stars.

Headquarters

Chicago, Illinois

Industry

Consumer, Creators, Marketplace

Founded

2016

Funding

$165.7 million

Valuation

$1 billion+

Traction

  • As of June 2023, Cameo has 12+ Cameo millionaires on the platform.
  • As of June 2023, Cameo’s Represent brand has helped talent donate $30 million+ to charities.
  • Between February 2021 and February 2022, Cameo for Business worked with 12,000 unique customers.
  • Between 2020 and February 2022, Cameo for Business saw 500% booking growth.
  • As of December 2021, Cameo’s talent roster was nearly 50,000.
  • As of December 2021, Cameo has fulfilled 2.5 million cameo recordings.
Breakr Logo

Breakr

Creator marketing solution.

Headquarters

Oakland, California

Industry

Music, Creators

Founded

2019

Funding

$5 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • Breakr customers include Rolling Loud Music Fest, Made in America, United Masters, Billboard, and SEEHER.
  • As of July 2021, Breakr reported 12,000 people applied for influencer accounts, and between 3,000-4,000 had been approved.
Uppbeat Logo

Uppbeat

Free music for creators.

Headquarters

Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom

Industry

Music, Creators

Founded

2020

Funding

$6.15 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • As of July 2023, Uppbeat has rated 4.7/5 stars from 763 reviews on Trustpilot.
  • As of March 2022, Uppbeat’s annual revenue run rate was $718K.
  • As of March 2022, Uppbeat has 3,000+ tracks on its platform, up from 1,000 in January 2021.
Royal Logo

Royal

Invest in music.

Headquarters

Austin, Texas

Industry

Music, Creators

Founded

2021

Funding

$71 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • As of July 2023, Royal has $156,000+ earned by collectors, $2.5 million raised for artists, and $7.5 million in music rights traded.
Easol Logo

Easol

Sell travel and experiences online.

Headquarters

London, England, United Kingdom

Industry

Travel, Creators

Founded

2017

Funding

$29.6 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • Between 2020 and December 2021, Easol reported a 913% increase in its customer base, 50x in transactions, and a 30x increase in spend on the platform.
  • In 2019, Easol crossed 100+ creators on the platform.
Mighty Networks Logo

Mighty Networks

Community platform.

Headquarters

Palo Alto, California

Industry

Creators, Edtech

Founded

2017

Funding

$66 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • In 2020, Mighty Networks achieved 200% annual growth in new customers, 400% in payments, and 2.5x in annual recurring revenue.
  • As of May 2023, Might Networks has rated 4.8/5 stars from 46K reviews.
  • As of May 2023, Mighty Networks has 50,000+ customers, including brands, founders, and creators like Sophia Amoruso, Fortune, Marisa Peer, Yoga with Adriene, and TED Talks.
White ship logo on blue background

OpenSea

The largest NFT marketplace.

Headquarters

New York, New York

Industry

Cryptocurrency, Creators

Founded

2017

Funding

$427.2 million

Valuation

$13.3 billion

Traction

  • In 2021, OpenSea’s transaction volume increased by 600x.
  • In 2022, OpenSea creators earned $1.1 billion in creator fees. For comparison, Snap paid its Spotlight Creators $250 million in 2021.
  • As of May 2023, OpenSea’s transaction volume is $20 billion, with 80 million+ NFTs on the platform and two million+ collections.
Wave hand emoji

Clubhouse

An audio-first social media company.

Headquarters

San Francisco, California

Industry

Audio & Video, Social Media, Creators

Founded

2019

Funding

$110 million

Valuation

$4 billion

Traction

  • During the company’s peak activity in April 2021, Clubhouse reported 10 million weekly active users.
flavrs logo

flavrs

A one-stop shop to serve the culinary obsessions of foodies.

Headquarters

San Francisco, California

Industry

Food & Beverage, Consumer, Audio & Video

Founded

2020

Funding

$7 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • As of June 2023, flavrs has rated 4.4/5 stars from 42 ratings on the Apple App Store.
  • Food creators teamed up with flavrs include Royale Eats, Everything Delish, Binging with Babish, Cooking with Pat Lee, Smelly Lunchbox, Eric Ripert, Tiff Loves Tofu, and Paleo Gluten Free Guy.
The Lobby Logo

The Lobby

Shop top brands with your favorite influencers.

Headquarters

San Francisco, California

Industry

Consumer, Retail, Creators

Founded

2018

Funding

$7.2 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • The Lobby brand partners include Pentire Drinks, Solara Suncare, Hella Cocktail, No Influence, and Fig Beauty.
  • As of May 2023, The Lobby has 29.7K Instagram followers.
Bento Logo

Bento

Bento is your page to show everything you are and create.

Headquarters

Berlin, Germany

Industry

Creators

Founded

2022

Funding

$1.6 million

Valuation

Acquired by Linktree

Traction

  • As of May 2023, Bento has thousands of users, including Masanori Miyamoto, Mathias Laurvig, David Hoang, and Greg Isenberg. Teams using the platform include The Browser Company, Butter, Overdeck, and UpMeet.
Runway Logo

Runway

Advancing creativity with artificial intelligence.

Headquarters

New York, New York

Industry

Artificial Intelligence (AI), Creators

Founded

2018

Funding

$236.5 million

Valuation

$1.5 billion

Traction

  • As of June 2023, Runway reported millions of individual users on the platform and enterprise customers like Google, Microsoft, New Balance, CBS, the New York Yankees, and Vox.
  • As of June 2023, Runway’s mobile app has rated 3.8/5 stars from 116 reviews on the Apple App Store.
Spline Logo

Spline

3D design tool in the browser with real-time collaboration.

Headquarters

Middletown, Deleware

Industry

Design, Creator Economy

Founded

2020

Funding

$15 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • As of July 2023, Spline reported 1 million+ creators have joined the platform.
Kale Card Logo

Kale Card

Rewarding creators for talking about their favorite brands.

Headquarters

New York, New York

Industry

Fintech, Creators

Founded

2021

Funding

$3.9 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • Kale Card works with brands like OLIPOP, Beyond Meat, Notion, Free People, TruFru, and Three Wishes.
Karat Financial Logo

Karat Financial

Financial services for creators.

Headquarters

Los Angeles, California

Industry

Creators, Fintech

Founded

2019

Funding

$115.6 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

  • As of July 2023, Karat Financial counts creators Graham Stephen, Alexandra Botex, 3LAU, Nas Daily, and Real Engineering as customers.

Explore More Startups Lists

photo of a nice home with a sunset in background

Top Travel Startups

Lady on couch listening to music with over the ear headphones

Top Music Startups

iphone with a man ready to played on video next to a phone with a women in a insta live video next to a bunch of metrics.

Top E-commerce Startups

Picture of a bunch of colorful makeup stuff from glossier with a bit of the paste squeezed out

Top DTC Startups

3 brex finance credit cards

Top B2B Startups

two nike sneakers

Top B2C Startups

Lady with cup of coffee looking at vertical farming warehouse

Top NY Startups

Hollywood sign with sunset view behind it

Top Los Angeles Startups