Crypto Startups Multiply in Creator Economy Database; Instagram Tests Links-in-Bio

Startups that raised money in the past three months include CreatorDAO, which plans to invest in creators in exchange for a cut of their future earnings. It raised $20 million in seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz announced in August. Pinata, which offers technology for creators to upload and distribute content like images and videos as NFTs, raised $21.5 million in Series A funding from Greylock Partners, Pantera Capital and Offline Ventures in August. 

These investments took place during a crypto crash that Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong in June predicted was the beginning of a “crypto winter.” In fact, some investors have earmarked more money for such investments: Seven Seven Six, the venture capital firm led by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, plans to raise $177.6 million to invest in cryptocurrency tokens, The Information reported in August. Lightspeed Venture Partners in July announced a new early stage crypto fund. 

More money brings greater scrutiny. Creators jumping on the crypto train got a reminder on Monday that they can face steep fines for ignoring rules about promoting crypto products. Mega influencer Kim Kardashian on Monday agreed to pay the Securities and Exchange Commission a $1.26 million penalty for hawking EthereumMax, a cryptocurrency that the SEC counts as a security. Kardashian failed to disclose how much she was paid to promote EthereumMax, the SEC alleged. 

The Takeaway: Crypto startups are raising more money, and some of that will funnel to creators. But the SEC, by taking a swing at Kim Kardashian, is sending a loud message to influencers that they need to abide by strict disclosure requirements. The requirement to disclose pay may dissuade some creators from advertising crypto securities. 

Here’s what else is going on…

Deals & Debuts

See The Information’s Creator Economy Database for an exclusive list of private companies and their investors.

TikTok’s European revenue rose 447% to around $990.5 million in 2021, according to a filing with U.K. regulatory agency Companies House. Its revenue in 2020 was around $171.6 million. The ByteDance-owned company attributed the increase to more users and monetization tools, the filing notes. 

TikTok plans to expand TikTok Shop, its live shopping operation, in North America by using the technology from Los Angeles-based startup TalkShopLive, The Financial Times reported.

Twitch is testing elevated chats, a way for viewers to pay to pin their messages on the top of a chat for a specific amount of time, similar to YouTube’s Super Chat feature. The more a fan pays for increased visibility, the longer the message stays in the chat box. A $5 payment for example, will pin a message for 30 seconds and 1.5 minutes will cost $25.

Fandom, a platform for fans to post content, acquired entertainment and gaming websites GameSpot, Metacritic, TV Guide, GameFAQs, Giant Bomb, Cord Cutters News and Comic Vine from Red Ventures. Terms of the acquisitions were not disclosed. 

Instagram Tests Multiple Links-in-Bio

What was once inevitable has finally happened: Instagram is testing allowing users to post multiple links in their page bios, according to a spokesperson for Meta Platforms. Currently, Instagram pages only allow the user to display one link, such as their YouTube account or online store. If Instagram goes ahead with the new feature, it will compete with the dozens of existing link-in-bio startups that originally emerged as a workaround to that Instagram constraint. Insider first reported on the Instagram test. 

In June, we counted 40 websites that offer such landing pages to creators. Those ranged from basic pages that host multiple links, to those that can also embed non-fungible tokens or media such as videos and photos within the link. Some of these startups earned their revenue by charging users through paid subscriptions to use their tools. For example, two-year-old startup Beacons offers a free plan and a paid one for $10 per month. But others, such as Snipfeed, which pivoted to link-in-bio two years ago, take a cut of what creators earn through its link. 

The threat that Instagram could start offering its own service was always a possibility for these startups. Some of them have been busy rolling out other features to ensure creators stick with their service. They also tout one advantage over Instagram: better data collection. These startups often offer analytics—say, which social accounts drove the most merchandise purchases—that’s more comprehensive when fans navigate through the same link-in-bio page. 

Creators have a “ton of insights and data on where users are located,” said co-founder and CEO of Snipfeed Redouane Ramdani. “To have an identity [creators] need to have something that's separate and unique across all platforms.”

There’s more we don’t know about Instagram’s link-in-bio feature, such as how many links a user will be able to add, whether multiple links might turn into one landing page or whether it might build these links into Instagram’s internal NFT offerings or shopping features. But the convenience of a native feature is hard to beat, especially for creators who aren’t producing content for multiple other apps, and it's a good time for link-in-bio startups to reconsider what other features they provide that Instagram can’t. 

👂Overheard

BeReal made a debut on Saturday Night Live’s season premiere. The sketch writers speculated on what would happen if BeReal sent its daily push notification while two bank robbers, Miles Teller and Mikey Day, were committing a crime. The comedy skit ended in one of the robbers promising to always “be real,” taking a photo during the robbery and then getting arrested. 

🧈What’s That Trend

Step aside cheese boards, butter boards are in. Creators are replacing their photo-worthy arrangements of cheese and meats with swirls of butter mixed with other ingredients like herbs and spices on TikTok. 

Such videos tagged with #butterboard or #butterboards have together picked up more than 100 million views in the last 3 months, according to TikTok. 

What We’re Reading And Watching

• A New Refrain From Artists: We ‘Almost Gave Up on Instagram’ (The New York Times)

• A Year After Frances Haugen’s Facebook Leak, Every Corporate Secret Is Now Up for Grabs (The Information)

• Meet the agents teaching TikTok livestreamers how to earn big tips (Rest of World)