Influur wants to stand out from other promotional markets by promising to pay on time

As the influencer economy grows, startups like PassionFroot, Agentio, and One Impression, as well as social media platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok are trying to create marketplaces to connect brands and creators.

Miami-based startup, Influur, banks on two unique features of its platform: fast feedback from creators and financial tools to ensure they get paid on time.

The company develops a series of tools for brands to better track campaigns. Additionally, it is considering introducing new financial products for creators, including loans, debit cards, and credit cards.

To support these efforts, Influur has raised $10 million in Series A funding from Point72 Ventures and HTtwenty Capital, bringing its total funding to over $15 million. Angel investors include Sofia Vergara and Thalia.

Ishan Sinha, partner at Point72, said the platform helps creators become better entrepreneurs.

“Creators are good at making content. But they may not be business savvy entrepreneurs. So having a place where their money can stay, they can get a quick payment, and see their numbers stronger,” he said.

Influur was founded in 2021 by four Latina female founders: CEO Alessandra Angelini, who worked at CNN as a producer before founding the company; influencer CEO Fefi Oliveira, who has worked in the entertainment industry with companies such as Nickelodeon and Telemundo and has over 9 million followers across all her social media accounts; chief operating officer Paula Coleman, who also worked at CNN as an associate producer; and senior marketing manager Valeria Angelini, who worked as a communications analyst at FedEx.

Before starting Influur, Angelini asked Oliveira, whom he met in college, why the creators did not respond to CNN’s communication efforts. Oliveira explained that organizers receive thousands of messages on Instagram and email, which makes it difficult to manage them all.

To address this problem, Angelini envisioned an influencer marketing tool, like Google AdSense, to manage product spending in that space.

Market and Society

Once on board, creators can connect all their social media accounts, display their marketing engagement rates and list past brand engagements. The startup’s founders noted that the platform currently hosts more than 40,000 creators with varying numbers of followers.

Creators can apply for open brand campaigns that match their criteria. They can also opt for “gated partnerships,” where they receive a brand product in exchange for content. As for brands, they can also talk to selected creators to collaborate.

On the platform, creators can get suggestions and tips from other experienced creators and learn from them. To keep engagement relevant, the platform limits posting to creators with more than 2,000 followers.

Angelini said many marketers rank influencers by extracting web data, which often leads to low response rates. He pointed out that an influencer usually responds to a product request within 24 hours with Influur.

Influur also offers a premium subscription to creators priced at $30 per month, which gives them access to a one-click media kit that details their pricing, past campaigns, socials, and engagement rates. They also get access to experiences where they can create content and exclusive webinars from famous creators.

According to Oliveira – who has been a creator for years – one of the biggest problems has been chasing products to get paid after the work is done. To solve this problem, Influur asks companies to pay money upfront, keep the money in escrow, and transfer it to the creator’s wallet when they send all the campaign deliverables.

“Promoters often wait 60 to 120 days after shipping the final product to get paid. We solve that problem with our wallet and instant payment feature,” said Oliveira.

Creators can wait 30 days to receive their payment or cash out immediately with a 15% fee from Influur. Currently, the company supports payments in a dozen countries, including the US, Mexico, and Brazil. The startup said that 20% of its creators paid that amount to get instant payment.

In the future, the startup plans to introduce a set of financial tools for creators, such as virtual accounts, short-term loans, credit cards, and debit cards. “The promoters want Influur to be their bank. We are planning to launch a new financial product, so we are not only part of getting money for promoters but also part of how they save and spend money,” said Angelini.

Sinha from Point72 said that in the due diligence of the fund, they found that the creators are looking for financial stability and the startup is creating the right tools to be successful.

Product details

With the Series A raise, Influur is working to add influencer campaign insights and financial tools. The company also built a prediction engine so companies can predict how a campaign might perform with a certain creative.

The company is expanding its team in all four of its locations: San Francisco, Miami, Mexico, and Argentina.

In addition to charging creators a 15% instant payment and premium subscriptions, Influur also charges a 20-25% service fee on all transactions from brands. While the company had profitable months last year, it will be a while before Influur turns a profit as it aims to break even by 2026.

The startup believes it is stronger than other markets because of its financial tools, its data engine, and having a famous creator as a co-founder.