Since 2020, almost 165 million creators have joined the Creator Economy. Artists, designers, singers, writers, and TikTok dancers are all examples of creators. A creator is essentially someone who uploads creative content and creations online. Individuals in the creator economy can use their skills and creativity to create content and build an online business. It is redefining how people think about labour and entrepreneurship.
Millennials and Generation Z are more entrepreneurial, self-sufficient, and online than prior generations. They are more inspired to pursue non-traditional jobs, such as being a full-time creator, as a result of the combination of these attributes, fuelling the emergence of the creator economy.
According to a recent study, 17% of creators are business owners, and 39% hope to be one day. Furthermore, the impact of social media and the internet on our culture’s zeitgeist has accelerated the emergence of the creator economy.
In this post, we identify ten creator economy startups in Europe to keep an eye on. The firms on this list assist creators in better engaging with audiences as well as monetizing and distributing their content. We should expect to see fresh, unique ways for creator monetization as the creator economy grows.
Bento’s all-in-one link-in-bio solution aids creatives in showcasing their work. Their solution features a sleek user interface and offers users the best versatility to create Bento profiles that are unique to them. Bento believes that creatives need more than a CV to demonstrate their value and is allowing a creative revolution. Berlin is the home of Bento, which debuted in 2022. They participated in the prestigious Sequoia Arc programme, a company-building initiative for chosen European entrepreneurs supported by Sequoia Capital, and have raised a total of €1.5 million.
Loudly is a platform that enables creators to find and personalise music using AI. They recognised a need in the market for configurable royalty-free music that producers could access with a few user inputs, such as the preferred genre or track duration. Over 150 000 songs are presently available in the Loudly music library. In 2021, EU-Startups sat down and had a conversation with Loudly’s creator, Rory Kenny, to learn more about the process of creating the company. In 2020, Loudly was established. They have 34 employees and are situated in Berlin.
Dealflow is a Copenhagen-based firm that develops payment infrastructure for creators, enabling them to invoice a brand and get paid the same day. They serve as a wallet for creators at the moment. Their goal is to develop the financial infrastructure for the creative economy by serving as a platform where brands and artists can raise money and get rewarded. Seb, the founder, was motivated to start Dealflow because he had trouble getting compensated by businesses as a content producer. Seb and I recently reconnected to talk about Dealflow, their expansion, and Seb’s experiences as a young entrepreneur.
In order to engage and monetize their audience, Komi is developing tools for creators to set up their ultimate “home” / landing page into a fully-personalized centre. On Komi, creators may group their material into a single location and get analytics. They intend to introduce more monetization and fan engagement opportunities. Lizzo, Elton John, and Idris Elba are just a few of the well-known people that have joined Komi. based in Los Angeles, USA, with a secondary office in London. A €4.5 million seed round headed by Contour Venture Partners has been raised by Komi.
Passionfroot allows creators to handle sponsorships, collaboration requests, bookings, and payments all in one platform, allowing them to streamline their work by freeing up time that would otherwise be spent juggling admin. Founded in 2021, they are based in Berlin and have 16 employees. They raised a pre-seed round of €3 million in December 2021, led by Creandum, with notable creators such as Ali Abdaal and Marina Mogilko participating.
A Vienna-based firm called 25Superstars assists marketers in forming collaborative relationships with content producers to develop interesting content. Both D2C and B2C brands and content creators benefit from them by saving time and money. They initially had 25 creators on their platform when they debuted it (hence the name of their business). They have now collaborated with over 500 brands and 5,000 creators. Their platform uses AI and ML technologies to assess various social media data points and provide recommendations to clients regarding their content creation strategy. They were established in 2021 and have secured a total of €474k in pre-seed capital.
Blokur is developing a platform that links creators and rights holders. There is a long-standing issue in the music industry with the complexity and delays in payments that are made to numerous parties for streams. Blokur is addressing this by assisting musicians and copyright holders in receiving payment when due. Their platform handles billions of streams and 70 million songs. They now have 18 workers and are situated in London. They have funded €1.7 million.
Through its platform, Twirl assists marketers in creating video UGC (user-generated content). For marketers looking to work with creators, they help speed up the process with their tech-enabled strategy and vetted creator network. Twirl, a 2022 startup with a London office and Antler funding, now employs seven people.
Through a link-in-bio solution, Snipfeed is on a mission to assist micro and macro creators in monetizing their social media platforms. Creators can charge for their goods and services, including live streaming, tipping, and exclusive content. Snipfeed makes this monetization potential available across all of its channels, saving creators from having to use multiple platforms. They were established in 2020, with offices in Paris and Los Angeles, and currently employ 30 people. They reported raising €4.2 million in their most recent fundraising effort in 2021.
Throne is constructing infrastructure for creator commerce. They currently have two products: a wishlist (creators can share a wishlist with their fans, and fans can buy products for their creators from the wishlist), and a storefront (creators can add their favourite products and shops to their storefront, and creators can earn money from related purchases). Throne has established connections with over 250,000 creators and hundreds of partner companies. They were created in 2021 and have offices in both Berlin and the United States.
