The creator economy has bred a generation of startups — from influencer-marketing companies to new social-media experiences.
These startups have captured the attention and wallets of influential venture capitalists and angel investors over the last several years, giving rise to many unicorn valuations in the space.
Meet 17 creator-economy startups to watch in 2026, according to VCs
AI is continuing to fuel investor interest in the creator economy. For instance, Hedra, a generative AI startup used by some creators to make viral content, announced a $32 million Series A led by A16z in 2025.
These 13 creator economy startups pulled in about $2 billion in funding in 2025
Other categories, such as social commerce, are also top areas of interest for investors. ShopMy, which previously shared its Series A pitch deck with Business Insider, raised another $147 million in 2025 and was valued at $1.5 billion.
Creators themselves, like Emma Chamberlain and MrBeast, are also raising venture capital for their businesses.
See the leaked pitch deck Chamberlain Coffee used
So, how do creator-economy startups land those investments? Often, it starts with a pitch deck.
Lumanu, a creator-focused financial startup, uses a simple pitch deck that's more of a "conversation guider," its cofounder and CEO, Tony Tran, told Business Insider.
"My pitch is always why, what, how, and why now?" Tran said. (Read the full pitch deck here.)
Every startup has a different approach.
Some even ditch the pitch deck altogether and opt for an email or Notion document.
Check out 16 VC firms investing in creator economy startups
We talked with founders who've pitched their startups to investors about their process. They broke down the pitch decks they used to secure millions of dollars in funding.
Read the pitch decks that helped 47 creator-focused startups fundraise millions of dollars:
Note: Pitch decks are sorted by investment stage and size of round.
Series A
- Restream, a livestreaming alternative to platforms like the Amazon-owned Twitch: $50 million Series A (14 pages)
- Hedra, a generative AI video platform: $32 million Series A (9 pages)
- Dub, a fintech startup that lets people copy influencers' stock trades: $30 million Series A (15 pages)
- ShopMy, an affiliate platform that lets creators earn commissions through shoppable landing pages: $26.5 million Series A (23 pages)
- Posh, an IRL events startup: $22 million Series A (12 pages)
- Pearpop, a creator-marketing platform: $18 million Series A (18 pages)
- Spoon Radio, a social-audio startup: $17 million Series A (15 pages)
- Kyra, a content studio, talent-management firm, and influencer-marketing platform: $15 million Series A (20 pages)
- Allstar, a startup helping gamers become social-media creators: $12 million Series A (6 pages)
- Lumanu, a business-solutions platform for creators: $12 million Series A (8 pages)
- Hype, a platform for link-in-bio and other creator-monetization tools: $10 million Series A (13 pages)
- Catch+Release, a startup that helps creators and everyday social-media users license their content to brands: $8.8 million Series A (12 pages)
- Slip.stream, a music startup focused on gamers: $7.5 million Series A (13 pages)
- Brag House, an esports startup: $5 million Series A (24 pages)
- CreatorDB, an influencer marketing company: $4.7 million Series A (13 pages)
Seed
- Linguana, an AI video translation startup that is targeting YouTubers: $8.5 million (13 pages)
- AvatarOS, a startup building virtual avatars for social media, gaming, and other immersive experiences: $7 million (11 pages)
- Hypernatural, a generative AI startup that wants to be the Canva for video: $6.8 million (14 pages)
- Flick, an AI video generation startup for filmmakers: $6 million (10 pages)
- Scenario, a generative AI startup to create gaming art and assets: $6 million seed (8 pages)
- Sesh, a music startup that connects artists and fans using their mobile wallets: $5 million seed (13 pages)
- Authoritive, an online course-development startup: $5 million seed (11 pages)
- Dstlry, a comic-book creator startup: $5 million seed (26 pages)
- Dharma, a travel startup for creators and brands: $4.7 million pre-Series A (17 pages)
- Glystn, an AI-powered community-management platform: $4 million seed (15 pages)
- Daisy, an influencer marketing startup that launched in 2024: $3.9 million (9 pages)
- Anima, an augmented-reality startup: $3 million (15 pages)
- Grandstand, a sports startup working with athlete creators: $2.75 million
- Seam Social, a new Web3 social-media platform: $2.5 million (10 pages)
- Spark, a digital art platform from the YouTuber Moriah Elizabeth: $2.5 million seed (9 pages)
- Insense, a startup helping e-commerce brands get low-cost ads: $2.5 million pre-Series A (9 pages)
- Supercast, a podcast subscriptions startup: $2 million seed (20 pages)
- Chartmetric, a music-data and -measurement company: $2 million seed (46 pages)
- Ultimate Playlist, a music-marketing startup: $2 million round (9 pages)
- Magroove, a music distribution and discovery platform: $1.6 million seed (21 pages)
- Stagetime, a professional-networking startup for performing artists: $1.5 million seed (13 pages)
- Jubilee Media, a content studio looking to expand beyond YouTube and TikTok: $1.1 million seed-plus (12 pages)
Pre-Seed
- Storiaverse, a startup for animators and writers: $2.5 million pre-seed (16 pages)
- July, a "talent manager in your pocket" for creators: $2.3 million pre-seed (9 pages)
- Squads, a startup that helps creators mint and sell crypto coins: $1.8 million pre-seed (12 pages)
- Skye, a career-coaching platform: $1.6 million pre-seed (33 pages)
- Punchup Live, a comedy platform: $1 million pre-seed (19 pages)
- Spore, a content and community-building startup: $1 million pre-seed (17 pages)
- Hashtag Pay Me, a startup that helps creators price brand deals: $200,000 pre-seed (9 pages)
