• Instagram has shut down a program that paid creators for ads placed on their profiles.
• Meta began testing the program in 2022.
• Instagram has launched several creator-monetization tests since 2020 — and some haven't survived.

Instagram has ended a program that allowed creators to earn money from ads placed between content on their profiles, the company confirmed to Business Insider.

The Meta-owned platform began testing the program with US creators in 2022 and expanded it in 2024 to eligible profiles in Canada, South Korea, Japan, and Australia.

Meta will continue to place ads in between content on nonteen public Instagram profiles. Businesses will still be able to prevent their ads from running on specific profiles.

According to court documents filed in 2024, Instagram has generated billions in ad revenue for Meta. In 2022, when the platform began testing the ads-in-profile program, it generated $16.5 billion, the same court filing said.

This isn't the first creator-monetization program that Meta has tested and shuttered.

Other programs you may remember include:

• IGTV (Instagram's now defunct YouTube competitor) shared ad revenue with creators from 2020 to 2022.
• Instagram briefly had a native affiliate program between 2021 and 2022 that allowed creators to earn revenue from shopping tags on their posts.

The Instagram Reels Bonus, which paid creators a sum of money based on how their reels performed, was paused in 2023. It was reintroduced in 2024 as a series of limited-time bonuses.

• I'm a reporter covering social media for Business Insider.
• My phone has well over 150 apps, and I'm quick to test out any new social app.
• Here are three apps worth trying if you're looking for alternatives to Instagram, X, or TikTok.

More apps? For this social-media reporter, the answer is "always."

I'm back with my favorite apps from the year.

At a glance, the dozens of apps I've downloaded this year fall into a few themes: IRL social, close-friends-focused apps, social shopping, and anti-swipe dating apps.

Last year, I highlighted 13 apps that I downloaded in 2023 as part of my reporting on the social-media industry. Since writing that story, some of those startups have continued to grow, while others have been acquired, and a few have had to pivot.

For instance, Artifact, an AI-driven news app founded by the original creators of Instagram, shut down and was acquired by Yahoo. Lex, a queer social network, laid off staff before getting acquired by mobile app conglomerate 9count. And Landing, a creative social collaging app reminiscent of Polyvore, changed course and pivoted to building Zeen, a shoppable blogging platform.

Meanwhile, new apps have launched or expanded this year, making their way onto my phone (which, yes, has very low storage).

Here are the three of the best apps I downloaded in 2024:

Disclaimer: These are my favorite downloads of the year and this is very much an opinion.

1. PI.FYI is a recommendations-based feed

What it is: Created by the team behind the pop-culture newsletter Perfectly Imperfect, PI.FYI is a mostly text-based feed where people answer questions, share recommendations, and post micro-blogs about topics like music or film. The app was built by ex-Meta staffer Tyler Bainbridge, who cofounded the PI newsletter with Alexander Cushing.

When it launched: 2024

Why I haven't deleted it: When I'm on the hunt for new forms of media to consume (be it books, movies, music, etc.), I'll open up PI.FYI to see what people are sharing. The app lets you add a link to a post, which helps when going down rabbit holes. Posting there sometimes feels like writing into the void on Tumblr or Twitter in 2012 (in a good way).

2. Airbuds lets you see what friends are listening to

What it is: It's a feed of music. It's that simple. Airbuds pulls information from several music streaming platforms (including Spotify, Apple Music, and Soundcloud). The team behind Airbuds also built Cappuccino, a social-audio app that launched in the early days of Clubhouse.

When it launched: 2022

Why I haven't deleted it: I switched from Spotify to Apple Music several years ago, and the one feature I missed was the ability to see what my friends were listening to. Airbuds lets me do just that and also makes it easy to save music to my own library.

3. IRL social app 222 coordinates experiences with strangers

What it is: 222, which started as a dinner series in Los Angeles in 2021, is an app that matches users with strangers for in-person experiences. The in-person events range from dinner and drinks to DIY art classes, and users take a robust personality quiz that is used to pair them with compatible matches. It was founded by Keyan Kazemian, Danial Hashemi, and Arman Roshannai, and was part of Y Combinator. In February, 222 announced it had raised a $2.5 million seed investment round.

When it launched: 2021 (222 expanded to New York in 2024)

Why I haven't deleted it: I've gone to several experiences through 222 this year and even made a few friends along the way. I've described the app to friends as a way of working out my socializing muscles, more than a guaranteed way to make friends or find new romantic sparks. You do have to pay a fee to access the curated experience (the monthly fee, for example, is about $22) on top of drinks, food, and other expenses.

• Many social-media users are looking to make friends and spend time together in person.
• A new wave of startups is capitalizing on this demand with tools to help people make plans.
• The "IRL Social" trend grew in 2024 and could carry into the new year.

Making new friends, it turns out, is pretty hard.

While the dominant social networks like Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat have proclaimed that they connect us with our friends, many users feel less connected and more alone than ever.

A new wave of apps is trying to fill that void by replacing content algorithms with features designed to help users get together in real life. This year, several of these apps hit new peaks in popular culture and adoption.

One of the biggest stars in the space is Partiful, an events app that has replaced Facebook Events for many. Google named it the 2024 "app of the year," and it was even used for the viral Timothée Chalamet lookalike contest.

Then there's Timeleft, a European startup that gets groups of people together over dinner every Wednesday night in over 60 counties. It was also recognized by Google this year as a "hidden gem." Timeleft, which launched in 2020, expanded to the US in March.

"This year, we found product-market fit," Lais De Oliveira, head of North America for Timeleft, told Business Insider. "We've had over 20,000 people dining with us this year in the US and we've been handling weekly about 6,000 people dining with us across the US."

IRL social startups are not just getting users to download their apps. Some are also getting investors on board.

Posh, another events app that offers a feed of nearby happenings, closed a $22 million Series A round this year led by Goodwater Capital. Other firms, like FirstMark, Forerunner, and Best Nights VC, have also participated in IRL-focused tech.

For Zehra Naqvi, an angel investor and VC focused on consumer startups, IRL has been a core concept in her investing thesis this year.

"There is this overwhelming desire for people to just connect with one another," Naqvi said.

She sees IRL social apps right now falling into two camps. One is advanced event tech that makes things easier on hosts and attendees (like Partiful, Posh, or Luma), and the second is apps that foster a sense of "whimsical" in-person connection (like Timeleft and 222, another app that connects strangers over dinner or activities).

Some IRL apps are tackling monetization, though others are not in that stage yet. Posh, for example, takes a percentage of ticket sales, and 222 has a subscription model for access to curated events.

Read more of BI's coverage of emerging IRL social companies.

These IRL social startups have raised millions of dollars:

• 222, which coordinates plans with strangers in Los Angeles and New York, announced that it raised $2.5 million in February.
• Pie, founded by Bonobos' Andy Dunn, raised an $11.5 million Series A in September.
• Posh, an events feed inspired by TikTok, raised a $22 million Series A in July.
• Howbout, a calendar app geared toward helping friends make plans, raised an $8 million Series A in September.

Meet the founders behind the apps trying to help people make friends:

• Kndrd: How a 25-year-old went from talking to 1,000 strangers in NYC to quitting her finance job and founding a social startup
• PamPam: Ex-Google staffers are building a social-mapping platform for online and IRL communities

• It was a busy year for M&A in the creator economy.
• Startups in influencer marketing, talent management, and podcasting became acquisition targets.
• Companies also sought to expand globally by acquiring creator startups in new regions.

Dozens of merger and acquisition deals were signed between companies across the creator economy in 2024.

Two M&A experts told Business Insider that one of the most impactful sales was Publicis Groupe's purchase of Influential for $500 million, signaling that one of the world's largest ad holding companies viewed influencer marketing as a must-have offering.

"If influencers are the new gatekeepers and authority within these digital channels, then they're going to command audiences," Chris Erwin, the founder of the M&A advisory firm RockWater, told BI. "Advertising revenue dollars are going to flow towards them."

Goldman Sachs analysts highlighted influencer-marketing spending as a primary driver of growth in the creator economy when they valued the industry at $250 billion last year.

A few other clear trends emerged this year around deals. Outside influencer marketing, popular acquisition targets included talent-management firms and podcasting tech. Non-US firms also pushed to build out creator businesses globally through purchases.

BI combed through data from PitchBook and Crunchbase and connected with M&A insiders to understand some of the key deals in 2024. Here are four takeaways:

1. Influencer marketing was a big focus among acquirers in 2024. The category has a proven business model compared with some of the more experimental parts of the industry. Beyond Publicis' deal with Influential, other large advertising brands brought in influencer expertise through acquisitions.

A few noteworthy deals in this category:

• The marketing firm Stagwell announced in July that it had acquired the influencer-marketing agency Leaders.
• The Canadian talent agency Dulcedo Group acquired the influencer-marketing app Node in July.

2. The creator economy is maturing globally. Several companies made strategic deals across markets like India, Japan, and Australia. Publicis highlighted Influential's global reach in its announcement about the deal.
   
   "Creators really can be global from day one," said Ollie Forsyth, a former senior manager at the investment firm Antler who now writes the newsletter New Economies. He pointed to technologies like AI-powered audio-dubbing and video-editing tools as helping creators distribute content to a global audience.

A few noteworthy deals in this category:

• The French influencer firm Ykone announced in March that it had acquired a majority stake in the Indian influencer-marketing firm Barcode to build a business in the Indian influencer market.
• The Finnish influencer firm Boksi announced in February that it had acquired the German influencer-marketing company The Influencer GmbH to grow its business in Central Europe.

3. Podcasting is a hot category. As platforms like YouTube and Spotify drive listenership (and viewership) of longer content, advertisers are paying close attention. EMARKETER expects US ad spend for podcasts to hit $2.28 billion this year, a roughly 16% increase from 2023. Meanwhile, M&A deals in the category focused on podcasting tech and IP in 2024.
   
   "It's a publisher play of rolling up these popular networks of shows," said James Creech, an M&A advisor through Quartermast Advisors who founded Creator Economy Jobs. "I think that'll continue because you're likely to see a handful of winners in this space."

A few noteworthy deals in this category:

• Triton Digital said in March that it had acquired the podcasting-adtech firm Sounder to boost its targeting and brand-safety tech.
• Night announced in April that it had acquired The Roost, a podcast network that includes shows from Theo Von and other popular creators.

4. Creator-focused talent firms are continuing to consolidate. There's no shortage of talent managers and agencies looking to represent creators. But a smaller number are prepared to support the businesses of top creators who aim to book deals, exclusive podcast agreements, and Hollywood roles.

A few noteworthy deals in this category:

• The talent-management firm Wasserman announced in September that it had acquired the talent-management agency Long Haul to grow its gaming and sports creator business.
• The influencer-marketing and creator talent company Whalar announced in October it had acquired the influencer-management firm Sixteenth.

Looking ahead to 2025

Erwin and Creech are expecting the next year to be fruitful for creator-economy companies.

"We're going to see more activity next year," Creech said.

The two M&A advisors are watching closely whether consumer-packaged-goods companies will continue to shop for creator-owned businesses, such as Hershey's purchase of Maxx Chewning's Sour Strips brand in 2024.

Companies that raised new funding in 2024 may also signal where M&A activity is heading next in the industry. Creator startups with offerings in artificial intelligence, newsletter tech, influencer marketing, and e-commerce drew in investor dollars in the past year. Among the big rounds were the creator-marketing platform Agentio, the newsletter app Beehiiv, the social shopping app Flip, and the AI firm ElevenLabs. Startups flush with funding could become acquirers in 2025.

"If you are looking to sell or to raise capital now, it's a good time to do it," Erwin said.

• TikTok could be banned come January, but what are the other fascinating creator-economy stories?
• BI's media team rounded up the most intriguing stories for the year ahead.
• Our picks ranged from a battle between Spotify and YouTube to what will happen in "IRL social."

There are many fascinating stories popping up in the creator economy every day. So, which ones have really caught the eye of Business Insider's team of reporters and editors?

We're all closely tracking whether TikTok will be banned in the US in January. But that's not the only story that could shake up the industry.

As we head into 2025, BI's media team rounded up the creator-economy storylines we are most excited to dig into next year.

Dan's storyline to watch: Influencers look to become QVC-style live shopping hosts

Live shopping has really begun to catch on in the US. Next year, I'm watching to see if top influencers embrace live selling and become QVC-style hosts — or if its momentum fades.

US creators have always hawked goods on behalf of brands, but live selling hasn't been a popular approach. It makes sense, as it's much easier for a creator to make a quick sponsored post than to film a 2-hour live sellathon.

TikTok Shop sought to popularize live selling in the US by working with outside partners to train live-selling creators and aggressively promoting the practice. I expect that will continue next year (if TikTok isn't banned), alongside efforts to drive up livestreams among e-commerce competitors like Amazon, Whatnot, and TalkShopLive.

But will creators whose content has nothing to do with e-commerce choose to try out live selling in 2025? Will live shopping replace static brand deals as the predominant way US creators make money, as it has in other regions like Asia? We'll be watching.

-Dan Whateley, senior reporter

Amanda's storyline to watch: Spotify and YouTube battle over video podcasting

Creators are launching their own talk shows in the form of video podcasts.

As this growing trend of serialized long-form content takes over screen times, two tech giants — Spotify and YouTube — will continue to compete to be the best platform.

YouTube is already a strong leader in the creator economy and a go-to creator platform. Spotify has also had a good year, reporting increased profitability in its Q3 earnings.

As video podcasts rise in popularity, these two platforms will have to convince both creators and viewers why they're the best place to earn money, engage with fans, and reach new audiences.

The race has already begun. YouTube took a stand by releasing a suite of tools and features that creators can't get on other podcast platforms — including the ability to go live, respond to comments, and earn revenue from donations.

Meanwhile, Spotify invested heavily in video in 2024, developing its own tools and more ways to pay creators for video podcasts through subscription earnings and ad revenue.

So, how will these platforms compete in 2025, and who will ultimately win in the video podcast race?

-Amanda Perelli, senior reporter

Sydney's storyline to watch: The future of IRL social apps

Social-media platforms are great for entertainment ... but for making new friends and maintaining IRL relationships? Less so.

However, a wave of startups that have either launched or expanded in 2024 plans to fill that gap. From in-person dinners offered by apps (like 222 or Timeleft) to event platforms (like Partiful or Posh), some startup founders are finding product-market-fit amid a loneliness epidemic. The trend extends beyond mobile apps, too, with in-person clubs or groups growing in popularity, like reading groups or running clubs.

While some of these startups are already raising capital and dabbling with monetization, will these solutions to loneliness stick around in 2024? And if they do stick, who will be category winners and what will success be defined by?

-Sydney Bradley, senior reporter

Nathan's storyline to watch: Creators on TV

The walls between the TV and the creator worlds are being torn down brick by brick, particularly by YouTube.

In November, as it has been for a while, YouTube was the top streaming service on TVs in the US, coming in at 10.8% of viewing compared to Netflix's 7.7%, per Nielsen.

With the lines blurring, will we see more streamers and even traditional TV networks look to creator-style content, as ESPN has done with Pat McAfee?

Creator TV shows have had a muddled history, but I'd argue that their struggles often came from networks trying to parachute an influencer into a traditional "TV" format. What about meeting them halfway?

On that point, it's been interesting to see the convergence of podcasts and video. YouTube (hello again) is the top podcasting platform in the US, ahead of Spotify (which is also looking to beef up video) and Apple Podcasts.

What's stopping the likes of Netflix, or even CNN, from licensing podcasts as long as they get the video quality up to snuff? CNN+ wanted to give Scott Galloway a show once upon a time. Maybe they should just put one of his hit podcasts on the air. The cable TV business is in freefall. It's time to get creative.

-Nathan McAlone, deputy editor

• The hiring trends among creator-economy startups can tell you a lot about the state of the industry.
• Creator Economy Jobs analyzed hiring posts from over 600 companies in 2024.
• Silicon Valley still has a grip on creator-related tech, while London could be the "next big" hub.

Being a creator isn't the only career path in the creator economy.

Creator Economy Jobs, a job listings platform founded by James Creech, analyzed hiring posts from over 600 creator-economy companies in 2024.

Across the board, creator-economy startups were generally hiring for roles in engineering, marketing, product, and sales.

"This year, the creator economy has definitely felt more energy and activity," Creech, who is also an investor and advisor to several creator startups, told Business Insider.

Since launching in late 2023, the platform has pooled over 1,000 job listings from creator-economy companies each quarter.

Creech's job site pulls listings from various third-party platforms and applicant tracking systems, like LinkedIn, Greenhouse, and Lever, among others. Some companies also list jobs directly through the site, Creech said.

While the creator economy — from Big Tech companies to startups — was hit hard by layoffs over the last few years, the post-hype-cycle industry appears to be landing on two feet.

Creech predicts that heading into 2025, more companies will emerge as strong players in the space and expand teams with hiring. That could prove true as a handful of creator startups have raised millions in 2024 — some, like newsletter platform Beehiiv, with the intent to hire.

Another trend Creech expects in the creator economy next year is corporate brands continuing to hire creators to fill in-house roles.

Here are a few takeaways on the state of jobs in the creator economy:

1. Creator-economy startups are in the market for engineers

"The most in-demand jobs are engineering," Creech said. "As we think about what types of companies in this space are growing and needing help, it's a lot of software businesses."

The majority of the engineering roles on CEJ are either backend or full-stack, Creech added.

Since the second quarter, the platform has had over 500 engineering jobs listed quarter-over-quarter.

The second and third most in-demand categories of jobs were in sales and marketing, respectively, Creech said.

2. Silicon Valley still has a hold on the creator economy

"We all think, 'Oh, the creator economy is Los Angeles,'" said Creech, who is based in LA himself. "When we started publishing these reports, the San Francisco Bay Area ranks the highest."

That's, in part, due to the sheer number of startups still building in the broader Silicon Valley area.

LA and New York City were the next largest US job markets throughout the year, Creech said. Meanwhile, international cities such as London, Bangkok, and Berlin have also been hubs for jobs on the platform.

"The international markets are growing really rapidly," Creech said. "We believe that the creator economy is a global phenomenon, and you're seeing people can live anywhere and build great businesses all over, and that's reflected in the fact that there are cool companies and cool jobs everywhere now."

Creech also identified London as "the next big creator economy destination."

3. These 6 companies were some of the most active job listers for 2024

When analyzing the top hiring creator-economy companies, CEJ excludes big platforms like Meta, TikTok, and Pinterest. The six companies below consistently listed new jobs within the creator economy throughout 2024, according to CEJ's data.

• Coda Payments, a monetization platform for digital products
• ElevenLabs, a generative AI and video-dubbing startup
• Impact.com, an affiliate-marketing company
• Lightricks, a content-creation and editing company
• Podimo, a podcast and audiobook platform
• Whatnot, a live-shopping company

Whatnot told BI that it would continue to prioritize hiring across all of its teams in 2025.

And Lightricks, which currently has 40 open roles, told BI that it plans to expand its teams in 2025 as it continues to build generative AI products.

ElevenLabs, meanwhile, said it plans to double its "core team" in 2025 with a focus on engineering and sales roles, while also expanding the company with hubs in Poland and India.

• 2024 has been a solid year for creator-economy fundraising.
• Creator startups focused on AI, e-commerce, influencer marketing, and newsletters drew in dollars.
• These 17 startups raised at least $10 million in 2024 — totaling over $900 million.

Money is still flowing in the creator economy, even as the investor hype cycle has died down.

In 2024, 17 creator startups raised at least $10 million in new funding, totaling over $900 million. A large amount of that investment went toward creator companies whose work overlaps with trendy categories, such as artificial intelligence or social shopping. But tried-and-true business models like influencer marketing and newsletter subscriptions also scored new rounds.

"For the second year in a row, the trends kind of stayed the same. AI, community, and revenue diversification for all creators," said Ollie Forsyth, a former senior manager at the investment firm Antler who now writes the newsletter New Economies.

Startups that offer automated dubbing, AI editing, or generative AI features — such as Captions, ElevenLabs, and OpusClip — all raised hefty rounds this year. Social-commerce startups like ShopMy and Levanta captivated venture firms, alongside newsletter companies like Beehiiv, Workweek, and Substack.

A few startups — Agentio, Beehiiv, and Captions — that raised capital in 2023, when creator-economy investments were at a low ebb, also raised again in 2024. Meanwhile, some venture firms have consistently tapped into the creator space, such as AlleyCorp, Inspired Capital, and Volition Capital.

Investor interest in the creator economy surged when social-media consumption spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic, but then fell off dramatically. It's now steady, Forsyth said.

"We're no longer in the hype cycle," he said. "Maybe it has lost its trendiness a tiny bit, but it's stabilizing, which is needed."

Business Insider worked with data providers PitchBook and Crunchbase to sort through fundraising data in order to highlight big creator startup rounds from 2024. We focused on companies whose products significantly impact the businesses of creators and their partners.

Here are 17 of those companies, listed in alphabetical order:

1. Agentio, an ad platform streamlining creator-brand marketing on YouTube, raised a $12 million Series A. The round, announced in November, was led by Benchmark and included returning investors Craft and AlleyCorp (the latter firms co-led Agentio's $4.25 million Seed investment last year). Agentio's Series A is being used to scale the startup's go-to-market teams and expand its product offerings beyond YouTube creator ads.

2. Beehiiv, a newsletter platform competing with Substack, raised a $33 million Series B this year — $32 million from venture capital investors like Lightspeed Venture Partners, New Enterprise Associates, and Sapphire Ventures, and $1 million from a crowdfund. Beehiiv will use the money to expand hiring, build its ad network, and continue its M&A strategy (the startup acquired Typedream in May).

3. Cameo, a video shout-out platform for celebrities and creators, raised $28 million with participation from Kleiner Perkins, Valor Siren Ventures, Endeavor Catalyst, and cofounders Steven Galanis, Devon Townsend, and Martin Blencowe. The aim of the raise was to build out Cameo for Business, an offering focused on connecting its creators with brands for promotional content, per a company spokesperson.

4. Already on its Series C round after launching in 2021, AI video startup Captions closed a $60 million round in July led by Index Ventures. The round included returning investors like A16z and Sequoia Capital, as well as new investments from Adobe Ventures, HubSpot Ventures, and Jared Leto. Captions will use its funding to grow its machine learning team and in-house research, and also shared plans to invest $100 million into generative video research.

5. ElevenLabs closed an $80 million Series B round at the start of the year, led by A16z, Nat Friedman, and Daniel Gross. Other firms, like Sequoia Capital, Smash Capital, and SV Angel, joined the round. The startup announced at the time that the raise would be used to "refine" its products and safety measures in the deployment of AI.

6. Flip, a social-shopping platform set up in a TikTok-like feed, raised $144 million in a Series C round led by Streamlined Ventures with participation from advertising firm AppLovin, the companies announced in April. Flip planned to integrate marketing tech from AppLovin as part of the deal.

7. Infinite Reality, a tech company that owns talent-management firm TalentX, Drone Racing League, and other holdings, closed a $350 million fundraise from an undisclosed family office, the company said. The investment was meant to support efforts in hiring, with a focus on tech and product, as well as allow the company to pursue M&A opportunities.

8. Influur, an influencer-marketing platform, closed a $10 million Series A in November, led by Point72 Ventures and HTwenty Capital. The startup will use its funding to develop products like AI tools to help brands predict campaign performance and fintech tools for its users.

9. Levanta, an affiliate-marketing company that connects Amazon sellers with creators and other affiliates, raised $20 million in a Series A round led by Volition Capital. The company said the round would help it grow its business development team and improve its user experience.

10. OpusClip, an AI video editing platform that helps creators turn long videos into short clips, closed its Series A in April, bringing total funding to $30 million, per the company. Millennium New Horizons led the startup's Series A with participation from other investors like AI Grant, DCM Ventures, Samsung Next, GTMfund, and Alpine VC, among others. The company said it plans to use the funding to build its products and grow its team.

11. Passes, a subscription and memberships platform for creators, raised a $40 million Series A round in February from Abstract Ventures, Crossbeam Venture Partners, and individuals like Alexandra Botez, Emma Grede, and Michael Ovitz. The funding will be used for hiring and product, CEO Lucy Guo told BI.

12. Podcastle, a content-creation platform for podcasters, closed a $13.5 million Series A round led by Mosaic Ventures, with participation from returning investors Sierra Ventures, RTP Global, and Point Nine, among others. The company is using the funding to expand its AI and video products and grow its team with a new base in London.

13. ProRata.ai, a startup focused on helping creators and media firms get compensation for contributing to generative AI products, raised $30 million in a rolling Series A that closed in Q4, led by Mayfield Fund and other investors like Revolution Ventures, Prime Movers Lab, and Calibrate Ventures.

14. ShopMy, an affiliate and influencer-marketing company, raised an $18.5 million add-on to its Series A in March, closing the round at $26.5 million. The startup previously told BI that it raised from firms like Inspired Capital and AlleyCorp to grow the platform and attract more brand and creator partners.

15. Slushy, an adult-content platform competing with OnlyFans, raised a $10.2 million seed investment that closed in June. The round included investments from The Chainsmokers' Mantis VC, Electric Feel Ventures, and individuals like Jon Oringer (the former CEO of Shutterstock) and Sean Rad (the former CEO of Tinder). Slushy will direct its new funds toward developing its product, onboarding more content creators to the platform, and expanding into new markets.

16. Substack closed an investment round of about $10 million (the company directed BI to Axios' reporting on the matter) in the fall. Substack recently announced that it had 4 million paid subscriptions on its platform. It has worked to ramp up in-person events this year.
17. Workweek, a business-focused newsletter startup, announced a $12.5 million Series A round in June led by Next Coast Ventures. It's using the investment to build out a professional networking service for Workweek's subscribers.

• LinkedIn has been gradually rolling out a TikTok-like video feed.
• Some creators say making videos has supercharged their engagement on the platform.
• LinkedIn is encouraging creators to post "short" and "snappy" videos.

LinkedIn is taking aim at TikTok — and creators are intrigued.

Since the spring, the Microsoft-owned platform has been gradually rolling out a TikTok-style vertical video feed that features career advice, industry news, and other creator content. A LinkedIn spokesperson said "most" users now have access to it. Videos can also appear in the app's main feed.

Meghana Dhar, a creator with 15,000 LinkedIn followers, said her LinkedIn "engagement has just exploded" since she started posting videos. She added that LinkedIn moving toward video "indicates that they're taking creators really seriously."

Several creators, including Dhar, told BI that they often see much more engagement and impressions on their video posts than on their text or photo ones. Engagement refers to interactions with a post, such as a like, while impressions are how many people view a piece of content.

Dhar said, for example, that a recent text post she shared on LinkedIn got about 10,000 impressions, while a video of her talking to the camera hit over 2 million impressions. Marketing strategist Caroline Giegerich found that her LinkedIn video posts reached three times as many people as her text posts did.

A LinkedIn spokesperson said video posts — including videos shared from individual profiles and pages — get 1.4 times as much engagement on average as other posts on LinkedIn.

While the concept of LinkedIn video might feel strange to some users, it could be a key for the platform to cement itself as a core platform for creators, unlock more ad revenue, and keep people checking their feeds regularly. The top platforms for creators, such as YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram, are all heavily focused on video.

"I am on a personal mission to make LinkedIn a daily habit for people," Jamé Jackson, a LinkedIn community manager, told BI. "We are so much more than just a platform for job searching."

This isn't LinkedIn's first attempt at video. In 2019, LinkedIn launched its live video product. In 2020, it launched a "Stories" feature, which lets users share disappearing videos (that shut down in 2021).

Still, there is some indication that this current, TikTok-like push might be what finally breaks through.

"Our investments in rich formats, like video, strengthen our leadership in B2B advertising and amplify the value we deliver to our customers," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said during the company's October earnings call. "Weekly immersive video views increased 6x quarter-over-quarter and total video viewership on LinkedIn is up 36% year-over-year."

LinkedIn's do's and don'ts for video

So, what makes a good LinkedIn video?

Jackson said to avoid creating content that "feels way too sales-y and promotional" and to keep the video to under two minutes: short, snappy, and actionable.

"The call to action is important because I always like to secretly tell people that the comments section is the liquid gold of LinkedIn," Jackson said. "The way you do that is by inviting people to the party, inviting them to the table after you've created that video, asking them to share in the comments things that they have learned."

LinkedIn has also seen an uptick in "faceless video content," where people aren't front and center, Jackson said, adding that it had generally performed well.

The platform has encouraged CEOs and executives to talk about breaking news as well, Jackson said.

Creators are using video to grow audiences but monetization lags

Creators generally say that compared to other platforms like TikTok and Instagram, LinkedIn is much less saturated — and that's an opportunity to build audiences.

"I've been posting on LinkedIn almost daily, certainly every weekday for a couple of years now," said Avi Gandhi, who has 23,000 LinkedIn followers.

Gandhi has recently focused on short-form video content, posting three to four times a week and often promoting his newsletter by calling out the name and including a link to subscribe at the end of the text post.

Career coach and creator Jahleane Dolne said she often uses LinkedIn to post podcast clips. While her largest following is on TikTok (about 34,000), Dolne said her podcast clips are a better fit for the LinkedIn audience.

Despite the audience growth for some creators, the ecosystem for making money on LinkedIn isn't yet fully developed. That may be changing, though. Three of the creators BI spoke with said they were either already working on LinkedIn-focused brand deals or actively reaching out to potential sponsors. And earlier this year, the marketing agency Creator Authority launched with a focus on LinkedIn.

However, the platform has not yet introduced a monetization program similar to those on Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube that directly pays creators.

"If LinkedIn launches monetization for videos where you could start making money from the videos that you post, that would be huge," Gandhi said. "That would be incredible and that would make it all worth it."

• Dating apps like Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge have new competition.
• A slew of new apps have launched in 2024 and are taking on swipe fatigue and dating-app burnout.
• Business Insider has interviewed several founders of the newest dating startups entering the ring.

Dating apps are in for a shake-up.

Many users are tired of swiping, dating app giants like Match Group (which owns Tinder and Hinge) face headwinds, and new startups are launching left and right.

Business Insider has interviewed several founders jumping into the dating-app arena as incumbents lose their luster.

Read: Meet the founders behind 11 dating startups

The new crop of dating apps is tackling various pain points in the online dating experience.

Some, for instance, are experimenting with new ways to discover and meet singles (aka not swiping). That includes startups offering users only a small batch of profiles to review each day, such as the New York-based app Pique Dating.

Others are testing how to successfully incorporate artificial intelligence into dating, like Sitch, which offers a chatbot and matchmaking feature powered by AI.

Matchmaking, whether through AI or by friends and family, has also become one of the hottest buzzwords in the dating-startup world.

There's also a wave of IRL-focused startups that forgo the experience of a dating app entirely with in-person events bringing singles together.

Read: The loneliness epidemic has given rise to a new crop of startups aiming to help people connect in real life

Meanwhile, social startups that aren't branded around dating — like Posh, 222, and Pie — are also breeding grounds for new friendships in person that could lead to love down the line as young adults seek to meet people in more organic settings. (Several of these IRL-social startups have also raised venture-capital funding this year.)

Even Big Tech is getting in on the action, with Facebook continuing to expand its Facebook Dating feature and Instagram's long-standing role as a digital flirting mechanism.

Read more about new dating startups launching to compete with Tinder, Hinge, and Bumble:

• Fourplay, a dating app that lets people go on double dates.
• First Round's On Me, which prioritizes setting up dates over DMs.
• Several new dating startups, like Cheers, Sitch, and Arrange are launching apps with matchmaking features.
• 222 is not branded as a dating app, but sets up strangers on group dinners in New York and Los Angeles.

• Would you trust your friends to curate your dating-app matches?
• Several new "matchmaking" dating apps have launched in the past year, addressing dating-app fatigue.
• Startups like Sitch and Cheers are using AI and social connections to match users.

Matching and matches are everyday phrases in the online dating app lexicon. But matchmaking? Less so.

That may be changing.

A slew of new startups have launched in the past few months centered around matchmaking in the age of swipe fatigue.

Sitch, an AI-powered matchmaking app launched in New York in November. Cheers, an app that lets friends play matchmaker in a social-media feed, launched in October. Facebook Dating even launched a matchmaking feature last month.

Matchmaking is by no means a new invention. People have relied on matchmakers for centuries, and have sometimes been willing to pay thousands of dollars to be paired by one.

Tinder's cofounder and former CEO, Sean Rad, told Harry Stebbings on a September episode of the 20VC podcast that he had always imagined the dating app moving beyond swiping and into matchmaking. Rad described an ideal version of Tinder where the app was trained well enough to suggest the right "person for you," he said on the podcast.

Big dating apps have previously dabbled in matchmaking. In 2017, Hinge (just before it was acquired by Match Group in 2018) launched a stand-alone app called Matchmaker that let friends swipe for each other. It appears to have since shut down. Tinder, also owned by Match Group, launched a similar feature in 2023.

The current trend of new matchmaking apps generally splits into two categories: Either the users themselves are doing the matchmaking, or the app (typically built with AI) is matching users directly.

Friends and family become matchmakers

Handing over the reins to your dating profile to friends and family may seem daunting, but several startups are betting on this form of matchmaking.

Loop, founded by siblings Lian and Adam Zucker, is a "matchmaking app where everyone can set up their single friends," Lian said. Only two-thirds of the user base are singles, though, Lian told BI, explaining that the rest are friends and family members — or even professional or hobbyist matchmakers. Loop launched in 2023 and is currently free for all users.

An app that's set to launch in December, called Arrange, is built around a similar premise. Developed by former Fizz staffers Ram Chirimunj and Zoe Mazakas, the app will let users link their profiles with a "scout," likely a trusted friend or family member, who can talk with potential matches ahead of time and vet for compatibility.

"I thought back on all my relationships and realized that they were all made by friend introductions," Chirimunj said. "I wanted to see how we could bring that authenticity from the real world onto a dating platform."

But some startups that offer matchmaking tools, like Cheers, recognize many people don't want to spend all their time matching on behalf of their friends — no matter how much they love them. Sahil Ahuja, an ex-Instagram engineer and founder of Cheers, is trying to bridge the gap between dating and social media with a friend-of-a-friend social graph. The app, which he describes as a crossover between Hinge and Instagram, is free and currently invite-only.

On Cheers, if a user spots someone they may want to go on a date with, they can send a request to their mutual friend on the app to make the introduction. Non-dating users can also send profiles or start group chats with mutual friends to kick off a connection.

"Because it's more social, it lends itself well to solving this more organically and feeling more like how you would date in real life through friends," Ahuja told BI.

Let AI do the matchmaking for you

Some newer dating apps (like Hawk Tuah Girl's app called Pookie or Rizz) are riding the tailwinds of the AI hype with chatbots that help people flirt, troubleshoot dating conundrums, and connect.

Sitch, for example, offers an AI chatbot experience where users can ask questions about dating. Users can also answer a series of intimate questions about their interests, values, and backgrounds that contribute to a profile within the app. The app then offers users potential "setups," where the AI will introduce two users.

"We've tried to replicate the exact human flow of matchmaking," Sitch cofounder Nandini Mullaji — who has experience in matchmaking friends of friends IRL — told BI.

Sitch launched in November exclusively in New York — but there's still a waitlist to get approved. Users can then pay for "setups," which cost $150 for three pairings.

Amori, a dating-advice app with characters users can chat with, is also experimenting with its own form of matchmaking using a personal assistant (though it isn't live within the app yet).

"We're trying to nail down the dating advice side of it with the coach," Amori's founder, Alex Weitzman, told BI. Down the line, Amori's AI dating coach will help users find potential matches through the app.

Will it really work?

Despite the string of new apps, New York City matchmaker Nick Rosen said he thinks it won't be easy for friends and family to find users a perfect match.

Rosen said he typically works with a roster of 20 to 30 people at a time and keeps a rolodex of 3,000 available singles in New York City for his clients to meet.

When he starts working with a client, he does an extensive intake of a person's romantic history, which he says is an advantage of a professional matchmaker. Friends and family know you well, but maybe they don't know the entirety of your dating history and scars.

"People open up to me like a therapist," Rosen said.

Though friends and family might be excited at first to play Cupid, the exhausting reality of helping someone find love can wear off, Rosen said.

Still, he thinks matchmakers need to change with the times.

"If we want to make matchmaking more approachable and cooler to people, we need to go and start having our own apps," he said.