The rise of the creator economy has spawned a new wave of startups spanning influencer marketing platforms, novel social media experiences, and financial tools tailored for creators. In recent years, these ventures have captured the interest of venture capitalists and angel investors, with some reaching billion-dollar valuations.
Even as global economic conditions have caused many sectors to pull back on investments, funding within parts of the creator economy remains robust. In 2024, three thematic areas underpinned some of the largest deals: artificial intelligence (AI), social commerce, and newsletter services. Notable startups like AI-focused Captions and newsletter platform Beehiiv successfully closed funding rounds exceeding $10 million.
Moving into 2025, investor enthusiasm for AI ventures within the creator economy shows no sign of abating. For example, Hedra, a generative AI company that assists creators in producing viral content, secured a $32 million Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz (A16z) in May. Additionally, creator entrepreneurs themselves, such as Emma Chamberlain and MrBeast, are actively raising venture capital to expand their brands.
Central to securing these investments are pitch decks—documents that distill a startup’s mission, value proposition, and financial prospects. Lumanu, which provides financial solutions for creators, employs a streamlined pitch deck aimed at fostering conversation rather than presenting exhaustive data. CEO Tony Tran described his approach as addressing the "why, what, how, and why now" in a succinct format.
Approaches vary among startups. Skye, a career-coaching platform, tailors pitch decks depending on the audience; for pre-seed funds emphasizing the founder’s story, it uses a different presentation than for investment groups focused primarily on metrics and numbers. Some companies opt to forego traditional pitch decks entirely, choosing email or collaborative documents hosted on platforms like Notion to engage investors. Throne, a startup in the creator space, exemplifies this minimalist strategy to raise seed capital.
To provide greater transparency into how creator-economy startups obtain millions in funding, an assemblage of 46 pitch decks was analyzed, sorted by investment stage and round size.
| Company | Description | Round Size | Deck Length (pages) |
|---|---|---|---|
| ARestream | Livestreaming alternative to platforms like Twitch | $50 million Series A | 14 |
| Hedra | Generative AI video platform | $32 million Series A | 9 |
| Dub | Fintech enabling copying of influencers’ stock trades | $30 million Series A | 15 |
| ShopMy | Affiliate platform for creators’ shoppable landing pages | $26.5 million Series A | 23 |
| Posh | In-real-life events startup | $22 million Series A | 12 |
| Pearpop | Creator-marketing platform | $18 million Series A | 18 |
| Spoon Radio | Social-audio networking startup | $17 million Series A | 15 |
| Kyra | Content studio, talent management, influencer marketing | $15 million Series A | 20 |
| Allstar | Helping gamers transition into social-media creators | $12 million Series A | 6 |
| Lumanu | Financial tools platform for creators | $12 million Series A | 8 |
| Hype | Link-in-bio and monetization tools for creators | $10 million Series A | 13 |
Smaller funding rounds at seed and pre-seed stages also reveal diverse company focuses, including AI applications for video translation and gaming art, content licensing solutions, influencer marketing, augmented reality platforms, and community management tools. For example, Scenario, a generative AI startup for gaming assets, raised $6 million in a seed round with an 8-page deck. Similarly, the AI video translation startup Linguana garnered $8.5 million using a 13-page presentation.
Founder experiences shared with Business Insider illustrate the deliberate tailoring of pitch decks to investor profiles and investment stages. For example, Jessica Wolf, CEO of Skye, explains maintaining separate decks for narrative-driven pre-seed investors and those emphasizing numerical data. Tony Tran of Lumanu emphasizes keeping decks focused on the essential questions, supporting candid dialogues with potential backers.
The varied formats and lengths of pitch materials—from brief six-page decks to more extensive documents exceeding 30 pages—reflect differing strategies and investor expectations across venture capital landscapes within the creator economy.
By dissecting these pitch decks, prospective entrepreneurs can glean insights into effective fundraising messaging in the evolving startup ecosystem centered on creator tools, content monetization, and AI-driven content innovation.