We’re excited to announce that we’ve closed a $6M seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Li Jin’s Atelier Ventures and The Chainsmokers, along with creator-focused organizations like Night Media — which manages creators like MrBeast — Crush Music — which manages artists like Sia and Green Day — and LOUD — one of the biggest esports organizations in the world.
We’re also joined by an awesome group of angel investors who have a ton of experience working with creators, including Naval Ravikant (CEO of AngelList), Scott Belsky (CPO of Adobe), Ankur Nagpal (CEO of Teachable), and Bryant Chou (CTO of Webflow).
This is a huge milestone for us, and we’re thrilled — and grateful — to have this opportunity. In 2019, when we started Beacons, we were just four friends working out of an apartment, trying to make it easier for creators to pursue their passions while making more money. While that part actually hasn’t changed much, most of the world around us looks significantly different.
A year and a half ago, the creator economy hadn’t taken off yet. Content platforms like Instagram and TikTok allowed anyone to create amazing content — and huge amounts of value for consumers all over the world — but most of that was converted into revenue that went to the platforms, not to the people creating the content.
At Beacons, our mission is to create new economic opportunities for creators.
People want the freedom to choose where they work, when they work, and what they work on. These used to be luxuries, reserved for the wealthy and the privileged. But today, creating content on social media is bringing these opportunities to millions of everyday people.
But great content alone doesn’t guarantee a successful business or meaningful financial empowerment.
Creators face all kinds of obstacles in engaging their audiences and in earning an income:
- How do I get my Instagram followers to subscribe to my YouTube channel?
- What kinds of things do my followers want from me, and what will they pay for?
- How do I actually sell stuff and take payments online?
Beacons helps creators at all stages answer these questions. With our link-in-bio websites, creators can show their followers where they’re creating content and what else they’re working on. Creators can also sell digital products and personalized content through Beacons, while getting analytics to better understand their audiences and position themselves to work with brands.
We’re here to help creators, but our creators are helping us build Beacons too. Our seed round includes equity crowdfunding from our users, who took a chance on us early and now have a financial stake in our upside.
The creator economy is just getting started, and creators are constantly exploring new ways to deliver value to their audiences — just look at the excitement swirling around NFTs and social tokens. Creators are building the businesses of tomorrow and we’re committed to giving them the best possible platform to build on.
We’re excited for a future where anyone in the world can create opportunities for themselves by creating content online. If you are too, and want to help us get there sooner — join us!
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