These 13 creator economy startups pulled in about $2 billion in funding this year

"While AI is dominating investor interest, the topic still carries friction within the creator economy. Some of these AI startups, which offer features such as human-like avatars, run the risk of posing a threat to content creators themselves. Influencer marketing, still the primary financial engine of the creator economy, has yet to reach a consensus on how and when AI should be utilized."

"It's not just AI that's attracting giant checks from VCs. Social commerce startups building live shopping and affiliate marketing platforms are also raking in funding. Whatnot, a platform where people sell on stream in categories like fashion and collectibles, such as Pokémon Cards or Labubus, raised a total of $490 million across two later-stage rounds this year. The social shopping platform was most recently valued at $11.5 billion."

AI-driven startups drew substantial venture and private equity funding in 2025, with eight companies announcing at least $50 million each, totaling about $1.2 billion for AI tools that automate content creation. Notable AI recipients include Synthesia and ElevenLabs, among others. Concern exists that human-like AI features could threaten content creators and that influencer marketing has not settled on AI adoption. Top creators pursued large funding efforts independently. Social commerce platforms also saw major investment, exemplified by Whatnot's $490 million raise and $11.5 billion valuation. Combined funding across highlighted creator-economy startups approached $2 billion in 2025.

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