• Creator upstart Spotter let go of staffers this week, the company confirmed to BI.
• The company works with top YouTubers and has a mix of businesses, including content licensing.
• Read the email Spotter's CEO sent staffers announcing the cuts.

Spotter, a startup that works with some of YouTube's biggest stars, laid off staff this week, the company confirmed to Business Insider.

BI was unable to determine the exact number of employees affected, but the layoffs impacted teams across the company.

"As the macroeconomic environment continues to evolve, we've made the difficult but strategic decision to implement organizational changes, including a reduction in the size of our team," a spokesperson for Spotter told BI.

The spokesperson said the cuts will help "accelerate our path to profitability by the end of this year."

Spotter is a major player in the creator space. Last year, it attracted funding from Amazon as part of a larger deal to work with Spotter's creator partners. The company's talent pool includes MrBeast, Dude Perfect, and Ryan Trahan. Spotter, which was founded in 2019 and is also backed by SoftBank, built a business buying the rights to license creator content. In March, the company said it had paid out over $950 million to creators.

That month, Spotter hosted a splashy pitch event in New York for creators and advertisers. The company said this week's layoffs did not impact Spotter's advertising sales team.

The cuts mark Spotter's second round of layoffs in the last six months. The company laid off employees in November, a spokesperson previously told The Information.

Spotter is not the only creator content licensing startup to cull staff in the past year. Jellysmack, a competitor that shares Softbank as an investor, made cuts in October amid a restructuring. Some startups focused on creator services have failed to meet growth expectations, industry investors previously told BI.

Spotter also offers AI-powered products to help creators come up with video ideas, titles, and thumbnails. It runs an advertising business connecting brands with creators as well.

Read the email Spotter's CEO Aaron DeBevoise sent to employees this week announcing the job cuts:

Team,

Today, we've made the difficult decision to part ways with some of our teammates. I understand today is challenging - particularly for those impacted.

These changes were thoroughly considered, particularly given recent economic uncertainty and volatility, which have further impacted investors' demand for efficiency and profitability. Despite our success in Q1, it has become clear that in light of the economic environment, we must make targeted changes to accelerate our path to profitability and control our own destiny.

To our impacted teammates: We are so thankful for your contributions which have been critical to advancing our mission to help Creators win.

We have already sent calendar invites to all impacted employees for conversations today where you will learn about next steps. We are committed to supporting these team members as they transition to their next opportunities.

Thank you.

Aaron

• Creator economy startup Jellysmack has spun off part of its original content business into a new entity.
• Blue Foxes, led by former Jellysmack VPs, will operate some of its social brands.
• SoftBank-banked Jellysmack has gone through layoffs and strategy shifts in recent months.

SoftBank-backed Jellysmack, one of the giants of the creator economy startup landscape, has unloaded another of its units.

The startup has spun off its "Jellysmack Originals" business, the company confirmed to Business Insider.

The new entity is called Blue Foxes, and is led by former Jellysmack Originals VPs Maxime Horbez and Paula Layoun. The company has taken over some of Jellysmack's owned-and-operated social brands, including YouTube channels, Snapchat accounts, and Facebook pages like Beauty Studio, Oh My Goal, Gamology, and House of Bounce, among others.

"We can confirm the launch of Blue Foxes as a spin-off, and we're very happy that the original content team will continue leading this business," Jellysmack's cofounder Michael Philippe told BI.

Jellysmack will continue operating the Law&Crime Network, which it acquired in 2023, and Philippe said the company would focus on US-based IP and YouTube.

Jellysmack raised a nine-figure investment from SoftBank in 2021 and is one of the most prominent startups in the creator industry.

However, Jellysmack — which once had over 1,000 staffers — has undergone significant changes in the past two years, including multiple rounds of layoffs. In March 2024, the company sold off its catalog-licensing business as it prioritized more profitable core initiatives, BI previously reported.

Jellysmack's troubles are part of a larger story. While the broader creator economy startup ecosystem was red hot in terms of venture capital interest and valuations from 2020 to 2023, the space has simmered down. Some startups have consolidated, while others have shed staff or shut down operations.

New name, same game

Blue Foxes is keeping several Jellysmack staffers on the team, per posts from former Jellysmack employees on LinkedIn. Blue Foxes' top executives wrote in separate posts that they hosted a launch party for the new brand in Paris on February 27th.

While Blue Foxes is a separate entity from Jellysmack with a new name and logo, "everything else stays the same," Horbez wrote in a LinkedIn post. "I am very proud to take on the leadership of Blue Foxes alongside Paula. And I'm even more thrilled to embark on this adventure with an incredible team, composed of talent spread across the globe, many of whom have been with us for years."

Horbez did not provide additional comments on the business when reached for comment. Layoun did not immediately respond to a request for comment.