13 creator-economy startups to watch in 2024, according to top VCs

Recommended by: Hugo Amsellem, a general partner at Intuition VC

Relationship: Intuition VC is not an investor in Delphi.

Total funding: $4.8 million, according to the company

What it does: Delphi is an AI platform that uses public and open-source AI tech to train on a creator’s videos, podcasts, and other source material in order to imitate how they think and speak. The goal is to allow a YouTuber, an author, an academic, or a coach to create a virtual clone of themselves that they have fans engage with in a text or audio chat.

Why it’s on the list: It’s really hard for influencers with large audiences to engage with all of their fans. Delphi opens up a new way for digital stars to connect with followers by “cloning” a version of themselves and potentially make money from those interactions.

Delphi could dominate the emerging clone market, much like personal site creators did for web presence, Intuition VC’s Amsellem said. Unlike website builders, Delphi has the potential to be a winner-take-most player through its consumer-facing clone marketplace, he added.

Recommended by: Prerna Sharma, a partner at Antler US

Relationship: Antler is not an investor in Flavrs.

Total funding: $7 million, according to the company

What it does: Flavrs is a TikTok-style video app for food creators that offers custom features like recipe sharing, diet-specific content feeds, and the option to order ingredients via an integration with Instacart. The company also has an AI-powered tool that lets users find specific recipes based on food they already have in their homes. The company grants equity to its top creator partners and is exploring other creator monetization opportunities as it builds out its user base.

“People’s passion for food is very real,” Flavrs CEO Alejandro Oropeza told BI. “We’ve built a platform that’s basically for people who live to eat, for people who love food more than anything else.”

Why it’s on the list: Building a consumer app in a social-media environment dominated by a few big companies can be challenging, as Oropeza freely says. But apps tailored to specific communities have been on the rise in recent months.

Antler US’s Sharma said that Flavrs offers a unique opportunity for food creators to monetize their videos and helps users take on recipes by making it easier to shop for ingredients.

Recommended by: Marlon Nichols, cofounder and managing general partner at MaC Venture Capital

Relationship: MaC Venture Capital is not an investor in Kajabi.

Total funding: $550 million, according to the company

What it does: Kajabi helps creators build, market, and sell digital products like online courses, coaching sessions, and newsletters.

In 2022, the company acquired community platform Vibely, and has since expanded its product to offer creators more ways to connect with their audiences, such as group chats.

According to the company, creators using Kajabi have collectively earned over $8 billion from the platform. It hosts tens of thousands of creators, the company said.

Kajabi was founded in 2010 by Kenny Rueter and Travis Rosser. Ahad Khan took over as CEO of the company in 2021.

Why it’s on the list: “Kajabi is innovating its product so creators can build their businesses online and market digital content directly to their audiences,” Nichols told BI. He added that the company is “well-positioned for further growth.”

Recommended by: Helen Liang, founder and managing partner at FoundersX Ventures

Relationship: FoundersX Ventures is not an investor in Merse.

Total funding: Approximately $1 million, according to the company

What it does: Merse is a digital-comics platform that incorporates audio effects into stories. The Y-Combinator-backed startup uses AI tools to handle text and voice translations in multiple languages. Artists can also add audio effects and soundtracks, per a Y Combinator blog post from cofounder Kumar Abhirup.

Why it’s on the list: Digital comics and web storytelling have become areas of focus among entertainment startups as they tap into new technologies like AI to make content more interactive. Merse is just a few months old, but FoundersX Ventures’s Liang told BI she could see the platform growing in popularity among Gen Z and younger users in the coming years.

Recommended by: Kamran Ali, investor at Inspired Capital

Relationship: Inspired Capital is an investor in ShopMy.

Total funding: $26.5 million, according to the company

What it does: ShopMy is a social-commerce platform that connects brands with creators for paid partnerships and affiliate marketing.

With ShopMy, creators and brands can track the success of a partnership through several data points provided by the platform.

The company was founded in 2020, and now works with over 70,000 creators. The startup has about 60 employees in the US.

Why it’s on the list: Inspired Capital’s Ali said ShopMy’s growth has soared in the past year. “While ShopMy’s growth has been stellar, what gets us most excited is the customer love that ShopMy inspires with their users,” Ali told BI. “Every brand and creator we speak with is effusive in their praise for the platform.”

Recommended by: Marshall Sandman, managing partner at Animal Capital

Relationship: Animal Capital is an investor in Trips.

Total funding: $3.5 million, according to the company

What it does: Trips is building a blockchain-based system that helps creators verify ownership of their content via a registry. The company wants to be a place of record for creator IP, allowing influencers to bring copyright claims against anyone who attempts to use their work without permission.

“The notion of copyright infringements is a part of it, but there’s a bigger picture here about how you can kind of build a system that allows for creators to actually come, establish ownership, understand conveyance and tracking of rights where rightful revenues can actually flow back to them across the ecosystem,” Trips CEO Michael Finkelstein told BI. “That’s a bigger, long-term vision of where we’re headed.”

Why it’s on the list: Sandman at Animal Capital told BI that his firm invested in Trips because it saw the potential of the platform to “reshape how content ownership and royalties are handled in the creator economy.”