Patreon creators surpass $3.5B in total earnings

Membership platform Patreon recently surpassed $3.5 billion in creator earnings since its launch in 2013, per The Information.

The news: Patreon users — which includes artists, musicians, podcasters, bloggers, and more — raked in $1.5 billion in 2021, representing a 50% uptick in annual earnings when compared to 2020.

The context: It took six years for the San Francisco-based company’s creators to earn $1 billion in earnings, Patreon reported in 2019. That means more than 70 percent of creators’ earning have come in the last two years. In other words, creators have thrived in Covid times.

Where it goes: Facing competitors in every direction, Patreon is still one of the creator economy’s top platforms. Patreon creators earn more than $100 million each month from more than 7 million patrons across the globe. The company, which takes a 5% to 12% cut of creators’ subscription revenues, plans to more than double its workforce to nearly 1,000 employees in 2022.

Web3 future? Patreon CEO Jack Conte said some of its new hiring initiatives could help develop the company’s Web3 strategy, which will have huge implications for the creator economy.

“There’s no individual particular technology that we are focused on. It's more the concept behind Web3 – the idea that creators are guaranteed the relationship with their audience.” Conte told The Information.

Copious creators: Patreon closed out 2021 with more than 216,000 creators on its platform. That’s nearly 60% more users than in at the end of 2019, per to data from Graphtreon.

Funding > IPO: Patreon was close to an IPO in 2021. But instead of going public, the company raised a $155 million Series F round that valued it at $4.3 billion. Patreon is reportedly still considering an IPO in 2022.

Native video: Patreon plans to launch a native video hosting feature that Conte said will give creators an alternative to YouTube.

2021’s creator investments: Venture capitalists loved creator economy-focused companies in 2021. In total, investors injected at least $5 billion into 140 companies that are supporting the creator economy, according to The Information’s Creator Economy Database, which tracks investments in creator-focused firms.

Largest deals: Here are a few of the biggest funding rounds in creator companies:

• Online course platform Kajabi raised $550 million at a $2 billion valuation.
  Personalized video shout-out app Cameo raised $100 million at a $1 billion valuation.

• Patreon raised $155 million at a $4.3 billion valuation.

• Audio-conversation app Clubhouse has raised $300 million in 2021 and has a valuation of $4 billion.