Four Latina co-founders Alessandra Angelini, Valeria Angelini, Paula Coleman and Fefi Oliveira have locked in a Series A investment of $10 million led by Point72 Ventures and HTwenty Capital with celebrity investors including Sofía Vergara and singer Thalía.
“These four entrepreneurs have impressed us with their vision to empower creators by placing their values and resources at the forefront. We are confident in the team’s ability to execute and drive meaningful change in this rapidly evolving industry, and we look forward to being part of their journey,” said Ishan Sinha, Partner at Point72 Ventures.
Influur is based in Miami, FL and claims 30,000 active users on the platform across 11 countries. The company was originally founded in 2021 with a small pre-seed round filled by friends and family. In 2022, they launched their creator-facing app in the Apple app store which is also now available for Android.
The platform has attracted top tier talent including Lele Pons (54 million followers on Instagram) and Twan Kuyper (6.3 million followers on Instagram). Oliveira herself is a creator with 6.3 million followers on TikTok.
“I understand firsthand the challenges of not being taken seriously at the start of my career. My experience allows my co-workers to gain insight into my life and the challenges I face, from getting paid to handling tax issues. It helps us build and maintain credibility among our users, who recognize that we’re solving problems we’ve experienced ourselves,” shared Oliveira.
It’s a crowded space for brand marketplaces such as Captiv8, Influential, Fohr Card and more, but the Influur founders believe their focus on expanded tools and organic community set them apart. Brand clients include names like Meta, Warner Music Group, Netflix, UberEats, MasterCard and TikTok.
“Our community of professional influencers is the heartbeat of our platform. Influencers come to Influur to connect with others in their community, grow their network both professionally and personally, collaborate with brands, and get paid on
time — efficiently and consistently,” said Alessandra Angelini, who previously worked as a producer at CNN.
The team plans to use the Series A funds to further develop their use of artificial intelligence tools including a recommendation engine for discovering new creators, expanded reporting tools and additional accounting features for creators.
“By harnessing AI, we’re enabling brands and influencers to make smarter, data-driven decisions faster than ever before,” says Valeria Angelini, Chief Product Officer for the company.
Influur is one of a just few platforms to guarantee payment within 30 days and offer international transfers powered by Stripe. Oliveira believes creators prefer receiving all funds to a single wallet versus tracking across multiple payment platforms like Venmo, PayPal and personal checking accounts.
The women hope to solve for the lack of standardized endorsement rates by offering brands more access to data and encouraging transparency among the actively-engaged community of professional influencers.
Influur also offers a $29.99 USD per month premium option for influencers who want access to exclusive deals and events as well as electronic press kit capabilities and mentorship sessions.
As for their decision to refer to users as “influencers”, the co-founders say they surveyed the community and it’s how they identify themselves. It’s also how brand clients refer to their campaign spend so it’s an easier shared vocabulary.
Read the full article here
