How Creator Economy Investments Could Hit $5 Billion This Year

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Facebook wants to talk about its ties to creators. So do Chipotle, Disney and Stripe. The upswell of interest in people earning a living from their online followers means it has never been a better time for founders building startups that serve creators. New data show how successful these efforts have been.

Some 101 U.S. startups focused on creators have raised more than $3.7 billion through mid-October, according to data from The Information’s Creator Economy Database. While funding dipped in the third quarter from the second, the two straight quarters of investments topping $1 billion put the sector on track to exceed $5 billion in new funds by the end of the year.

The influx of capital has given founders more leverage, and could lead creators to demand more from the companies benefiting from their success.

“Creators are going to start expecting to have ownership more than before,” said Li Jin, a general partner at Variant Fund and an early investor in the sector.