They are young, successful and move a millionaire economy: the new business that seduces investors and multis

Goes beyond influencers. Los creadores de contenido son todos los que generan un producto que es valorado por una audiencia en el mundo digital. Ya no precisan de la estructura tradicional, se apoyan en la desintermediación que permiten las diversas plataformas. Y esto mueve una economía, llamada "economía de los creadores" que no solo los involucra a ellos y a las redes en sí, sino también a diversas startups, empresas e inversores de riesgo que ven el potencial a futuro de este sector.

According to the inverter Li Jin, we will all be creators for 2030.She worked for four years in Andreessen Horowitz, one of the VCs who looks more enthusiastically at this business, and last year she created her own Atelier Ventures background, with which she invested in Patreon and Substack. "Todos vamos a tener que adoptar algunas de las habilidades y comportamientos de los creadores para ser exitosos porque vivimos buena parte de nuestras vidas en línea", explicó a The Information.

Through the platforms, creators not only build their audience, each in their niche in turn puts the foundations of their brand. Porque ellos mismos se transforman en empresas (a veces con varios empleados) y hacen un branding propio.A simple exercise to verify it is to enter the site of the National Institute of Industrial Property and look for the nickname or fantasy name of some of them.Surely find them.

Antoine Torres, Argentine YouTube Head, defines them as "true SMEs".And like any venture, the first steps are shy.They start alone and do many functions at the same time: to think about creative content, put in front of the camera, but also manage contacts with brands, go selling and an increasingly important third leg, analyzing statistical data.

50 million people in the world are considered content creators.Only 2 million are dedicated full time and live from that.Source: Signalfire

"These are very important to make creative decisions and also from the commercial side to connect with related brands.It is a huge job by the creators that sometimes surprise.As they grow they delegate tasks, growing your company. Es un creador, pero en realidad es un emprendimiento", puntualiza Torres.

Uno de los casos más emblemáticos es el de Martín Pérez Disalvo, conocido como Coscu, que inició su camino en el mundo de los videojuegos y viró a las transmisiones en vivo (streaming), primero en el gaming y luego mostrando situaciones de su vida cotidiana (llamado IRL o in real life).There he became the number one in the country (2.9 million followers) with his "Coscu Army" as a banner.This name designates not only its followers but also the group of streamers with which it works. Así también se llama la sociedad anónima que creó para manejar su equipo de esports y organizar eventos relacionados.

Hace dos años, durante la Esports Brands & Business Conference, organizada por la UADE y TyC Sports, Coscu, lo puso en palabras: "Lo que logramos abarca más que a una persona y me encantaría que se entienda que es un movimiento y también se entiende como marca. Pero abarca todo: una marca, una empresa, una comunidad, un grupo humano y una forma de hablar".

"La Argentina es un gran país en cuestión de creadores", sintetiza Juan Marenco, CEO de la agencia especializada Be Influencers. Y explica: "Podés encontrar creadores de lo que quieras y no hay nicho que no tenga al menos uno porque hay una búsqueda constante y una lucha por la creatividad.In Mexico, Peru and Colombia see them more atomized in Lifestyle and the Instagram paradigm, instead Argentina leads the discussion quite a lot ".

YouTube tiene su programa de socios que funciona hace más de 10 años y que en los últimos 3 pagó más de US$ 30.000 millones a los creadores en el mundo, a quienes se les pide 1000 suscriptores y 4000 horas de reproducción de su contenido en los últimos 12 meses para comenzar a monetizar.Today the main way for those who choose the Google platform is advertising, but Torres says that "there is more to innovate in monetization".

"We work to diversify the forms of income so that each creator can customize their business model.In addition to advertising, there are membership.Our goal is to create a platform that allows creators sustainability, "explains Torres.

"The professionalization of content creation will promote the work of the creators.Having local teams is essential to better understand the dynamics and specific needs of creators, "says Gustavo Vargas, director of Communications and Public Relations for Kwai in Latin America. Su foco está puesto en los contenidos deportivos a nivel regional con un fondo de US$ 10 millones para los creadores de este rubro.

Since 2017 Mauricio Cabrera moved away from the media in Mexico after 15 years and opted to become "content therapist" advising brands and even with his own Newsletter -The Muffin- in which every week he describes the Latin American news of his new obsession, the Creator Economy. "En la región faltan creadores que sean capaces de concebir que las redes solo son una avenida para hacer una audiencia pero no son un negocio en sí.There is also the chance to use it as content marketing, "he analyzes and gives as an example what several professionals do in Tiktok.

Each platform has its own monetization scheme, but it is not enough.To be able to live on that, it is necessary to be a giant of visualizations. Para el resto, el esquema está en la integración vertical: merchandising, acciones con marcas, cursos y más.On this, Carolina Vázquez, who stands out with her Gaming videos on YouTube and Twitch, summarizes: "The idea is that content creation is a stained glass window".In his latest report, CB Insights asked content creators what was their main source of income and 7 out of 10 responded that they were the Brand Deals.

Aunque más tímidos, en la Argentina también hay casos de fondos locales invirtiendo en startups locales."The role of creators has more and more weight in purchasing decisions, the process of loyalty of a brand and the discovery of new products.The speed at which networks, tools and audiences grow faster than ways to monetize that new role, and that is where new social commerce opportunities are emerging, "describes Sacha Spitz, General Partner and co -founder of the fundNewtopia.

From the VC they assure that these new forms of retail are watching closely. Entre sus primeras inversiones el fondo apostó por For me, una plataforma de social commerce para empoderar a las mujeres de la región creada por tres emprendedoras que salieron del mundo corporativo: Consuelo Chasseing, Denise Henry y Romina Mahboub.In less than 18 months the firm consolidated a community of more than 130.000 mujeres con presencia en Argentina, México y Colombia, y tienen alianzas con 15 empresas del mundo de la belleza (por ejemplo L'Oréal) para ayudarlas a transformar una recomendación en una venta digital, uniendo creadoras y marcas con un modelo de revenue sharing.

La plataforma argentina Wisboo recibió US$ 1,1 millón en una ronda semilla liderada por Morro Ventures, Accel y Spring Capital.Of all its investors, only one is Argentine: the turbine ventures. Comenzó en 2018 como un software as a service de educación online para empresas y universidades y al año siguiente mutó hacia una plataforma para que los creadores pudieran ofrecer cursos y webinars. Ahora busca otros US$ 3 millones para seguir creciendo en la región.

"We realized that there was a chance so much that creators with a developed audience could monetize it as well as for aspirational, which are dedicated to something else and see the chance of reinventing themselves from something in which they are good," says hisco -founder Ezequiel Carlsson.They even have an internal accelerator that is associated with the creators to invest in advertising and provide them with a marketing and promotion team.

Today they are 20.000 academias creadas y esperan llegar a los 100.000 creators for 2022 with sales for US $ 10 million.The acceleration of the digitalization that occurred last year, indicates the entrepreneur, can motivate a greater interest of Argentine investors."Before they didn't see it as attractive," he says, "they are worth it because the business volume can assure you returns.".

No obstante, para Mauricio Cabrera, la situación regional en cuanto a inversión en startups de la creator economy "sigue siendo precaria".And he describes: "There is a lack of Latin American ventures because there is some pessimism that they end up eating the greats and the mystery of how the audiences will react.There is a blue ocean for entrepreneurs there ".

An ecosystem that grows

Una de las startups que mayor atención captó por parte de youtubers, ilustradores y bloggers, entre otros, fue Cafecito, la propuesta local de microaportes, fundada por el desarrollador Damián Catanzaro en mayo de 2020.

En poco más de un año superó los 200.000 usuarios a un ritmo de entre 1000 y 1500 transacciones por día."I am working on two new functions: to accept international payments through PayPal and turn the platform into a social network with interaction.I want it to be a social network for content creators, "says Catanzaro.

While some investors approached, he claims not to be interested yet in receiving anchorage."With profits today you can sustain," he explains.In his first eight months of operation he moved about $ 15 million. Entre sus planes también está la expansión internacional de la marca a Chile y Uruguay.

US $ 1300 million in investment received the startups of the Creator Economy so far from 2021.Source: Signalfire

"Many of the content creators are seen the engagement bulletin and number of followers, but sometimes they lack conversion," says investor Leonardo Wehe, who has businesses in Colombia, Argentina and Uruguay and is known for being oneFrom the jurors of the Colombian version of Shark Tank. Pero el argentino también mira de cerca a la creator economy a través de Flashcookie, la plataforma de impresión on demand de merchandising que fundó en el país en 2018.

The company works as a white brand e-commerce where artists' create their own store to sell products with their logo, phrases or any intellectual property of yours. Flashcookie cuenta con un centro de impresión en Barracas, desde donde salen cerca de 8000 remeras por mes -el 70 por ciento de su facturación-, además de buzos, stickers y bolsos.

"The model exists a decade ago, but in Latin America it never took flight.They are companies that receive extraordinary valuation in terms of billing, "says Wehe, Managing Partner of the firm.For example, one of the most relevant companies of this item is the Leton.

In exchange for its service, the platform stays with 70 percent of each sale. Mueve hasta $ 15 millones por mes."The idea is that it is double," Wehe projects.Next year he hopes to mount the same operation in Mexico so that Argentine creators can reach that market with their products.

Startups that are born in order to support the industry provide a fundamental piece: professionalization.Thanks to them, creators can leverage their business and brands make serious alliances."The problem we come to solve is that there was a rather informal industry. La tecnología nos permite escalabilidad y transparencia en los resultados de campaña, que es lo que más demandan los anunciantes", dice Tomás Márquez, CEO Lemmonet. Este marketplace de influencers cuenta con más de 12.000 creadores de contenidos de América latina, Europa y Estados Unidos para matchear con marcas.The company already gives work to 35 people, has offices in Buenos Aires, San Pablo, Mexico and Barcelona.

But startups are not the only ones that are part of this economy.Any tool or company that supports or works with them also forms this universe much broader than you can imagine.In this area, projects such as Culture, which develops cultural products and have made books with Pablo Molinari and El Cat and La Caja may appear.It can also be mentioned to the Producciones tour, theatrical producer that carried out several shows starring creators, such as Martín Kovacs (the insane), Matías Bottero and Ramiro Terraza (Bajoneando by Hay).

En los Estados Unidos existen más de un centenar de empresas que se mueven en este ecosistema.There is even a Fintech - Karat - who launched an exclusive credit card for them. Acá, la falta de alternativas locales aún es una barrera."Except Cafecito nobody else were encouraged to create a Patreon competition (micromelezgo site for creators) more or less good.The same is something that will happen shortly, there are sure people who are doing it, "says Marenco.

The original version of this note was published at number 332 of Opening Magazine.