Creators and social media influencers are all the rage right now, but the money seems to be flowing to the pickaxe and shovel makers more than creators themselves.

Lumanu is a creator economy company that makes software to help creators with invoicing, payments and collaboration that recently raised a $12M round of financing led by Origin Ventures.

Before we get into more about what they do, check out these impressive creator economy stats:

• The creator economy market size is around $104.2 Billion. 
• $800 million in venture capital has been invested into creator economy startups since October 2020.
• 72% of Creators prefer Instagram and identify it as their primary content platform.

Lumanu has seen some solid traction in the past 9 months as more creators enter the market and are in need of tools to help them monetize their content.  Lumanu’s clients include Snoop Dogg and Jessica Alba, but the sweet spot of clients are making $80,000 to $500,000 a year.  CEO Tony Tran started the company with his cofounders Nhan Nguyen and Paul Johnson in 2017.

EarlyPay
In conjunction with the financing, Lumanu recently introduced EarlyPay, which enables creators to seamlessly send invoices and instantly receive payments for brand collaborations rather than waiting 30 to 60 days to get paid, or not getting paid at all.

The platform also has features to help creators share and protect their brand which is not always easy for non-business savvy users.

Scott Stern, partner at Origin Ventures statement
“Self-made solo entrepreneurs are modern-day hustlers that brands use to reach two generations of digital natives. Lumanu has created an operating system for creators to collaborate with clients, brand partners and one another quickly, intuitively, and seamlessly across the entire lifecycle of a project, from the very beginning through final payment.”

Easy peasy to share this story with your peeps