Pearpop Raises $16M in Funding Following Record-Setting Adoption Among Creators and Celebrities
Since October 2020, pearpop has attracted over 10,000 creators to the platform
LOS ANGELES, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Today pearpop, the first marketplace for social collaborations between creators, announced $16M in funding, which includes $10M in Series A financing led by Alexis Ohanian's Seven Seven Six with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners and $6M in prior seed financing co-led by Ashton Kutcher and Guy Oseary's Sound Ventures and Slow Ventures, with participation from Atelier Ventures and Chapter One Ventures.
Angel investors supporting pearpop include Abel Makkonen (The Weeknd), Amy Schumer, The Chainsmokers, Diddy, Gary Vaynerchuk, Griffin Johnson, Josh Richards, Kevin Durant (Thirty 5 Ventures), Kevin Hart (HartBeat Ventures), Mark Cuban, Marshmello, Moe Shalizi, Michael Gruen (Animal Capital), MrBeast (Night Media Ventures), Rich Miner (Android co-founder), Snoop Dogg and Tyga.
"Pearpop has the potential to benefit all social media platforms by delivering new users and engagement, while simultaneously leveling the playing field of opportunity for creators," said Alexis Ohanian, Founder, Seven Seven Six. "The company has created a revolutionary new marketplace model that is set to completely reimagine how we think of social media monetization. As both a social media founder and an investor, I'm excited for what's to come with pearpop."
Since its launch in October 2020, the platform has attracted almost 10,000 creators including names like Heidi Klum, Loren Gray, Snoop Dogg and Tony Hawk, among others. Together, creators on the platform have a combined audience of more than a billion followers, and hundreds of users have over a million followers on TikTok alone.
Founded by Cole Mason, Spencer Markel, and Guy Oseary, pearpop is the first marketplace for social collaboration between creators. Oseary explains, "pearpop is a very powerful platform that empowers creators to leverage and monetize their social currency in support of talent."
Pearpop first launched on TikTok, where creators can buy and sell duets, comments, or the use of the sound feature, and is already being leveraged to:
- Build influence: Creators increased their following by up to 700% after purchasing a pearpop collaboration. For example, Leah Svoboda went from 20K to 141K followers, after a pearpop duet with Anna Shumate.
- Create viral music: As TikTok has become the primary source of viral music, musicians are using the 'sound' feature to get influencers to use their music in posts. Musician Tobias Dray saw his track usage skyrocket from 30 uses to 671 uses, from a $25 collaboration on pearpop, making it his most popular song on TikTok.
- Raise money for charity: Josh Richards and Griffin Johnson contributed over $200K to The Barstool Fund to support small businesses during the pandemic, by using pearpop along with direct donations.
- Collaborate with celebrities: Pearpop powers fun and creativity between celebrities and fans. With pearpop, creators have posted unlikely, unique content that wouldn't have otherwise been possible with celebrities like Snoop Dogg and Tony Hawk.
"What I appreciate most about pearpop is the control it gives me as a creator," said Anna Shumate, TikTok influencer @annabananaxdddd. "The platform allows me to post what I want and when I want. My followers still love my content because it's authentic and true to me, which is what sets pearpop apart from all of the other opportunities on social media."
Talent agencies are also beginning to also adopt pearpop as a way to further support clients. Early adopters include Talent X, Get Engaged, and Next Step Talent and The Fuel Injector, which has added its entire roster of talent to pearpop, which includes Kody Antle, Brooke Monk and Harry Raftus.
"The initial concept came out of an obvious gap within the space: no marketplace existed for creators of all sizes to monetize through simple, authentic collaborations that are mutually beneficial," said Cole Mason, co-founder & CEO, pearpop. "It soon became clear that this was a product that people had been waiting for, as thousands of people rely on our platform today to gain full control of their social capital for the first time starting with TikTok."
Media Contact
Emilie Gerber, Six Eastern, +1 (415) 854-8891, [email protected]
SOURCE pearpop
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