These 13 creator economy startups will raise nearly $2 billion this year

The creator economy is thriving with the help of AI.

In 2025, eight startups building artificial intelligence tools to automate the content creation process each announced at least $50 million in funding from venture capital and private equity investors, for a total of $1.2 billion.

London-based generative AI video startup Synthesia confirmed a $180 million funding round in January, and text-to-speech startup ElevenLabos closed a $180 million Series C round. Other AI startups such as Moonvalley, Krea, and Higgsfield also announced large investments this year.

While AI has dominated investor attention, the topic continues to cause friction within the creator economy. Some of these AI startups, which offer features such as human-like avatars, risk posing a threat to content creators themselves. Influencer marketing remains the primary financial engine of the creator economy, but there is still no consensus on how and when to leverage AI.

Top creators aren't sitting back and watching AI take over. YouTuber MrBeast and his team originally aimed to raise $200 million at a $5 billion valuation earlier this year, according to investor documents viewed by Business Insider. The MrBeast team declined to comment on the fundraiser.

AI isn't the only thing collecting big checks from VCs.

Social commerce startups building live shopping and affiliate marketing platforms are also raising funding. Whatnot, a platform that streams categories such as fashion and collectibles like Pokemon cards and Love Buses, raised a total of $490 million in two late rounds this year. The social shopping platform was most recently valued at $11.5 billion.

Meanwhile, affiliate marketing platform ShopMy continues to gain market share in the influencer marketing space. The startup has raised a total of $147.5 million in funding this year.

EMarketer, a sister company of Business Insider, estimates that social commerce sales in the U.S. are expected to exceed $100 billion next year. The category is gaining momentum in the US, thanks in part to the growth of TikTok Shop.

Creators This year's funding onslaught for AI and social commerce startups follows similar buzz in 2024 where investors poured money into startups like Captions, Flip, and OpusClip. Several startups in these business areas, including Eleven Lab and ShopMy, raised funding for the second year in a row.

Business Insider analyzed 2025 funding data from PitchBook and other industry sources to highlight the creator industry's largest investment rounds that year. Here are 13 startups that raised $50 million or more in 2025. Collectively, their funding exceeded $1.9 billion. We focused on companies whose products have a significant impact on the business and content creation process of creators and their partners.

Below are the 13 creator economy startups that raised the largest rounds in 2025, in alphabetical order.

• Animagi is an animation company that distributes on YouTube and other children's platforms and uses generative AI to reduce production time. it is, $85 million funding round In June, it was led by HarborView Equity Partners and Bpifrance Large Venture, with participation from other investors including JP Morgan and Marquee Ventures.

• eleven lab is a text-to-speech AI startup that $180 million Series C funding round. In September, the company announced a $100 million takeover offer for its employees at a valuation of $6.6 billion.

• fixed A talent management company that has developed $62.8 million The company said the round will be conducted in two parts this year.

• higgs fieldGenerative AI video startup announced that it has raised funding. $50 million Series A round in September. The investment, led by GFT Ventures, will help the startup expand its enterprise offerings and accelerate its “global engineering and go-to-market momentum,” the company said.

• ClaireThe AI ​​creative tool kit for video and image editing announced funding in April. $83 million This includes the most recent Series B round from investors Bain Capital Ventures and a Series A with investment from Andreessen Horowitz.

• Many ChatThe company automates SMS and social media DM marketing for brands. $140 million This year's growth funding round will be led by private equity firm Summit Partners. The funding will help the social commerce and marketing startup expand its global presence and further build out agent-based AI tools.

• moon valley We are building AI video tools for Hollywood. $84 million The round was led by General Catalyst and included support from industry, including talent agency CAA.

• picverse, The AI ​​video creation platform announced funding in September. $60 million The Series B round was led by Alibaba, with Antler also participating.

• shop myAffiliate marketing platform has announced two investment rounds this year. In January, ShopMy announced it had raised $77.5 million in a Series B round led by Bessemer Venture Partners and Bain Capital Ventures. In late October, the startup announced it had raised an additional $70 million at a $1.5 billion valuation, bringing the company's total funding in 2025 to $147.5 million.

• newsletter platform substack raised 100 million dollars The Series C round was led by BOND and The Chernin Group. The platform was valued at $1.1 billion, and the startup was certified as a unicorn.

• Generative AI music platform Snow announced in november $250 million The Series C round was led by Menlo Ventures, with participation from investors including Nvidia's NVentures and Lightspeed.

• Synthesiaa generative AI platform that can convert text to video and create AI avatars and voiceovers, confirmed it had raised funding in January. $180 million The round was led by NEA, with participation from investors including World Innovation Lab and Atlassian Ventures. The company declined to comment on the October comment. forbes report It has also raised an additional $200 million.

• anythingthe social shopping platform gaining momentum as the US market heats up live shopping, total $490 million This year from investors. The company announced a $265 million Series E round in January and closed another $225 million Series F round by October at a valuation of $11.5 billion, doubling its valuation since January.