Lumanu Closes $12M Funding Round for the Creator Economy

Lumanu, a platform that streamlines creator payments and collaborations, has raised $12M in a recent funding round. For creators and founders, the business of creativity has just gotten much more seamless.

Paying easy

The background: Lumanu, built by creators, for creators, aims to make it easier for influencers, artists, musicians, YouTubers, and other creators to collaborate with brands and accept payments. Lumanu launched in 2017, and rolled out its business platform for creators back in April. Cofounder and CEO Tony Tran aims to help creators focus just on creating:

Bottom line, creators need support. Lumanu simplifies the day-to-day business operations so that users feel comfortable and protected as they explore new collaborations and manage their existing relationships. For brands and partners, this means simplified business transactions, with access to the Lumanu network of high-quality creators.

Lumanu aims to empower creators and remove the intimidation factor of working with brands and managing collabs.

The platform: Lumanu users can manage all of their collabs in one place. The platform allows creators to access and revoke brand collaborators, define terms and deliverables, and view all information about active. and previous sponsorships and collabs with one click.

On the payment end, creators can quickly create and track secure, professional invoices. Lumanu has no monthly cost, and doesn't take any transaction fees. Creators also have access to EarlyPay, a tool that allows them to receive payment from eligible brands in minutes (as opposed to the industry standard 30 to 60 day payment period).

Brand love: Brands are also enjoying the benefits of using the platform. Because they don't have to change their process to pay through Lumanu, and can easily access creators using the platform, it simplifies the process on their end as well. Brand managers have also praised the platform for helping with metrics and campaign tracking. Chris Phillips, CEO of Mizzen + Main, had this to say:

The results from using influencer media on Facebook and partnering with Lumanu exceeded our expectations. Prior to the testing with Lumanu, the return on influencer campaigns had been difficult to measure and scale. With Lumanu, we are able to scale our influencer initiative and optimize our spend based on full-funnel metrics.

Lumanu aims to allow brand managers to focus on relationship-building with creators, not endless scrolling, hashtag-searching, and admin work to identify those who may be a good fit for the brand.

The numbers: The round was led by Origin Ventures, and it included participation from Alumni Venture Group, Gaingles, and 500 Startups. Lumanu has raised $16 to date.

Star power

A range: Lumanu users range from creators just starting out on Twitch to Hollywood heavy-hitters. The platform boasts Christy Carlson Romano, Snoop Dogg, and Jessica Alba among its list of clientele, and has landed brands like BJ's, Savage x FENTY, and Poshmark.

Creator haven: The gig economy grew by 33% last year as the pandemic unfolded. Millennials and Gen Z were particularly represented in this growth, with at least half of Gen Z workers doing some form of freelance work. A 2020 Upwork report notes the following:

Of those who quit their full-time job in order to freelance, 75% say they earn the same or more in pay than when they had a traditional employer.

The road ahead: Overall, with freelancing being as profitable as traditional employment, or more, tools and platforms like Lumanu will likely continue to emerge and explode. With the sizzling hot $104.2B creator economy only getting hotter, any tools that can assist creators in monetizing, partnering with brands, or general management of their brands and businesses will probably grow steam. Founders can tap into this with products that streamline any function of this process and make things more seamless.