Industry landscapes
Industry report

Funding and advertised pay are reported in USD; filed accounts retain their stated source currency and basis.

Exchange-rate basis

Indicative conversions use ECB reference rates dated 2026-09-14, applied consistently across all periods. They are not historical exchange rates. Indian rupees may use crore (1 crore = 10 million); other currencies use K, M and B. CSV downloads, source documents and quoted news headlines retain their original currencies.

THE SAN FRANCISCO EDITION 2026

San Francisco’s
creator economy industry,
in focus.

The companies, capital and talent shaping creator economy in San Francisco. Find the leaders. Understand the segments. See where the activity is.

Snapshot: Funding in USD
Illustrated cover for Creator Economy Industry Landscape of San Francisco
US
COMPANIES · CAPITAL · TALENT

An industry ecosystem,
measured in context.

Creator Economy illustration
MEET THE COMPANIES

Explore San Francisco’s creator economy leaders

24 featured companies from the funding, hiring, revenue and team-size leaderboards.

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Creator Economy company highlights in San Francisco, snapshot 3 September 2026
Company
VIPKidvipkid.com$975.49M
Patreonpatreon.com$412.1M283
Outschooloutschool.com$240.02M2 roles84
Euclid Labs$173.26M
Magic Edenmagiceden.io$157M143
Speakspeak.com$141.12M
BloomTechbloomtech.com$137.09M101
Soul Machinessoulmachines.com$117.5M14
Upfluenceupfluence.com7 roles134
Juni Learningjunilearning.com6 roles632
SV Academysv.academy6 roles33
BookNookbooknook.com4 roles126
Linqialinqia.com4 roles93
Hallidayhalliday.xyz3 roles9
Inkittinkitt.com3 roles48
Audiusaudius.co44
Bandcampbandcamp.com196
Buy Me A Coffeebuymeacoffee.com41
Camb.aicamb.ai
Camblycambly.com69
Desmosdesmos.com65
Gumroadgumroad.com111Financial figure available in RadarView in Radar
Joyagetjoya.com47
NovaKidnovakidschool.com500
24 featured companies

Locked revenue figures are available in Radar; the eight company financial previews stay the same throughout this page. A dash means the figure is outside these featured lists. Revenue years vary by company; the figures are not a like-for-like revenue comparison. Compare annual accounts ↗

Company discovery

Recorded evidence only

Explore the live startup set in Radar

No company example met every recorded classification, independence and public-profile gate in this snapshot. The live directory may have newer qualifying companies.

Explore classified startups in Radar ↗
THE KEY SIGNALS

Creator Economy industry KPIs in San Francisco

A few useful ratios bring the size of this ecosystem into perspective.

3 September 2026
Hiring participation5.6%

20 of 356 tracked companies have open roles.

Funding participation36.2%

129 of 356 tracked companies have a recorded round.

Top 3 funding share41.1%

Share of disclosed capital received by the three largest recorded recipients.

Median disclosed round$4M

Midpoint of 170 rounds with a disclosed amount.

Scale is concentrated. Opportunity is broader. The three largest funding recipients hold 41.1% of disclosed capital, while 63.8% of tracked companies have no recorded funding round.

Explore the segments →
CAPITAL & COMPANY FORMATION

How San Francisco creator economy has grown

Recorded company formation and disclosed funding across the complete annual series shown.

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2016 — 2025

Disclosed funding by year

Sum of recorded funding rounds · USD

San Francisco creator economy
$0$198.26M$396.51M$594.77M$793.02M2016: $151.74M20162017: $298.57M20172018: $589.14M20182019: $403.26M20192020: $356.37M20202021: $695.63M20212022: $686.5M20222023: $54.59M20232024: $157.13M20242025: $44.67M2025
View the numbers
Annual creator economy funding and company formation in San Francisco
YearFunding (USD)FoundedRaising
2016$151.74M1810
2017$298.57M2116
2018$589.14M2411
2019$403.26M1822
2020$356.37M2617
2021$695.63M4024
2022$686.5M2621
2023$54.59M2412
2024$157.13M209
2025$44.67M63
WHERE CAPITAL SITS

Funding concentration

Share of all disclosed company funding.

  • VIPKid24.6%
  • Patreon10.4%
  • Outschool6.1%
  • Other companies58.9%

Funding by stage

201 recorded rounds since 2016

NUMBER OF ROUNDS
Seed & Angel98 48.8%
Series A–B71 35.3%
Series C+ / PE20 10.0%
Grants, debt & other12 6.0%

Recent recorded rounds

Latest recorded rounds · USD
0 rounds

Swipe or scroll horizontally to browse.

Largest and notable recorded rounds

Each card is one recorded round
10 cards

Swipe or scroll horizontally to browse.

Series F04/2021
Patreonpatreon.com$155M

Backed by Tiger Global Management and Woodline Partners and others.

Series C06/2022
Euclid Labs$129.4M

Participating investors were not recorded in this snapshot.

THE BUSINESS BEHIND THE ACTIVITY

Revenue, profitability & financial strength

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Annual accounts availability

Exact designated identities and reviewed filing records were checked, but this page has neither a qualifying preview account nor a target cohort meeting the ten-entity aggregate floor.

DIGITAL FOOTPRINT

Web traffic, app reach and release cadence

How the San Francisco companies on this page show up online: the sites people visit, the apps they install, and how often those apps ship.

Busiest websites

28 of the 356 companies on this page carry a measured traffic record (7.9%); these are the largest of those, by monthly visits. The median among them is 1,248,463 visits.

CompanyMonthly visitsAuthorityMobile
Twitchtwitch.tv1,165,038,3029711.1%
Patreonpatreon.com217,476,5388158%
Bandcampbandcamp.com41,179,5147751.2%
Desmosdesmos.com27,528,4938421.8%
Gumroadgumroad.com26,491,9015546.8%
Redbubbleredbubble.com16,051,8117467%
Instructablesinstructables.com13,001,8727659.8%
Tapastapas.io11,680,3785390.1%
Buy Me A Coffeebuymeacoffee.com6,578,7165547.3%
Yarngetyarn.io3,379,7175670.1%

Visits and authority are third-party web estimates, not company-reported figures.

Most-installed apps

43 of these companies (12.1%) publish at least one Android app — 118 apps in all, carrying 495.1M installs between them.

AppInstallsRatingStore category
Twitch: Live StreamingTwitch355.2M4Entertainment
PatreonPatreon23.7M4.7Entertainment
Cambly – Learn EnglishCambly22.1M4.7Education
HookedHooked19.5M3.5Books & Reference
Speak: Language LearningSpeak11.5M4.7Education
Tapas – Comics and NovelsTapas11M4.2Comics
Desmos Graphing CalculatorDesmos10.4M4.5Education
Inkitt: Books, Novels, StoriesInkitt7M4.4Books & Reference
Podcast StudioSpreaker5.6M4.5Music & Audio
BandcampBandcamp4.9M3.2Music & Audio

Installs are lifetime totals to date at the June 2026 store reading — a measure of reach, not of people using an app today.

App reach by segment

The busiest app inside each of this page’s own segments, with the quarterly release trend behind it (2023Q2–2026Q2).

SegmentAppsInstallsLeading appRelease trend
Ott Video15357MTwitch: Live Streaming 355.2M
Social Platforms18355.2MFantaPil 40.9K
Gaming Tech12355.2MDino Sticker 9.1K
Digital Publishing Platforms5755.6MPatreon 23.7M
Continued Learning937.6MCambly – Learn English 22.1M
Crowdfunding5130.1MBandcamp 4.9M
K-12 Edtech1120.3MDesmos Graphing Calculator 10.4M
Radio Tech139.6MPodcast Studio 5.6M

A company can carry several segment tags, so these rows overlap and should not be added together. Trend lines are zero-based and share one quarter grid, so a flat line is a quiet segment, not a missing one.

Release cadence by quarter

New apps published, beside apps whose most recent update landed in that quarter — the second bar is how much of the shelf is still being maintained.

2023Q1: 72023Q1: 12023Q12023Q2: 22023Q2: 02023Q22023Q3: 22023Q3: 22023Q32023Q4: 12023Q4: 02023Q42024Q1: 22024Q1: 32024Q12024Q2: 42024Q2: 02024Q22024Q4: 32024Q4: 72024Q42025Q1: 22025Q1: 32025Q12025Q2: 32025Q2: 22025Q22025Q3: 42025Q3: 142025Q32025Q4: 32025Q4: 92025Q42026Q1: 92026Q1: 192026Q1

Darker bars are new releases, lighter bars apps updated. 109 of 118 apps carry a release date. The series ends at 2026Q1, the last quarter that closed before the June 2026 reading.

INSIDE THE INDUSTRY

The San Francisco creator economy market map

Explore the segments behind the headline numbers.

Expand panel +

Where companies are building

Rank segments by scale, hiring or disclosed funding.

Consumer digital281
Enterprise tech128
Marketplaces74
Edtech65
Fintech61
Saas60
Online tutoring59
Web 3.051
Decentralized finance50
Blockchain in financial services49
Enterprise software46
B2c e-commerce42

Companies can sit in several segments. Counts and funding overlap.

SEGMENT TO EXPLORE

Consumer digital

The largest measured segment in this report snapshot.

281companies
5.3%have hiring activity

15 companies hiring · $3.4B disclosed funding

Explore in Radar

How companies make money

Common revenue models; a company can use more than one.

Subscription298
Commission on transaction94
Advertising76
E-commerce - service46
Fee-for-service29
E-commerce - product22
Sponsorship14
Freemium7
THE COMPANIES IN MOTION

Who is listing, hiring leaders, launching and winning work

Recorded corporate activity linked to companies in this landscape.

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Recent corporate headlines 10 dated reports
Mergers & acquisitionsturpentine.co ↗

Last year, he acquired the tech podcast network Turpentine.

Funding roundsopenmindlearning.com ↗

OpenMind received a strategic investment from Pi Network Ventures to expand its open‑source robot OS platform.

Mergers & acquisitionscaptiv8.io ↗

Captiv8, another influencer marketing platform with 15 million creators, was also acquired by Publicis this year for a reported fee of US$150 million.

Mergers & acquisitionsstrings.com ↗

Accumen’s 3DR Labs acquired Strings, a healthcare workflow monitoring and automation software provider, to enhance operational efficiency in healthcare services.

Mergers & acquisitionsaudius.co ↗

audius SE today signed an agreement to purchase all shares in Munich-based CompuSafe Data Systems AG.

Mergers & acquisitionsjetfuel.it ↗

Stagwell announced its acquisition of JetFuel.

Mergers & acquisitionspex.com ↗

Vobile, a global leader in digital content protection and transaction services, announced it has completed its acquisition of Pex, a leading technology provider of audio content identification.

Funding roundshalliday.xyz ↗

San Francisco-based Halliday has raised $20 million to scale its protocol that helps companies automate operations and manage system reliability.

Mergers & acquisitionsamaze.co ↗

Fresh Vine Wine, Inc. has finalized its acquisition of Amaze Software, Inc., marking a significant shift in the creator economy.

Funding roundsgetjoya.com ↗

JOYA, the first employee skin health and wellness benefit platform, announced its emergence from stealth mode with $5 million in seed funding from LUX Capital, Mosaic General Partnership, Arsama Trust, and Joyance Partners.

Full recorded event mix

Top 10 categories among 76 recorded events in the 24-month window.

Lawsuit
22
Mergers & acquisitions
15
Earnings
12
Leadership moves
8
Board Updates
5
Funding rounds
5
Company announcements
4
New products
3
Buyback
1
Contracts
1
3 activity cards

Swipe or scroll horizontally to browse.

Leadership moves

6 tracked people moves

Twitch ↗
Michelle Scully

Resignation Previously Global Communications Head

Patreon ↗
Brielle Villablanca

Departure VP of comms and creator advocacy

Patreon ↗
Adiya Taylor

Departure corporate comms lead

Gumroad ↗
Ershad Kunnakkadan

Appointment Chief Executive Officer

Gumroad ↗
Sahil Lavingia

Resignation Previously Chief Executive Officer

Twitch ↗
Brielle Villablanca

Departure Previously global head of comms and community engagement

Workforce actions

1 companies with reported reductions

Twitch ↗

500 rolescost reduction

Litigation

17 tracked suits

Company
Elon Musk’s X Corp v World Federation of Advertisers, lego, mars, cvs, nestlé, ør

antitrust conspiracy involving advertiser boycottAntitrust · Dismissed

Company
Elon Musk’s X, World Federation of Advertisers, cvs health, v mars, lego, nestlé

Illicit boycott of X by advertisersAntitrust · Dismissed

Earnings pulse

Reported company results in the recorded window.

2companies
12period observations
6.7%median reported growth

Median across 12 reported growth observations; companies may contribute multiple periods.

Mergers and acquisitions

Company-linked deal reports; status is preserved as recorded.

Acquirer → targetStatusDateValue / context
Marc AndreessenTurpentine ↗2026-04-03Not stated in snapshot
miroReforge ↗Announced2026-03-30Not stated in snapshot
publicis groupeCaptiv8 Labs ↗Completed2025-10-29$150.0M
Accumen’s 3DR LabsStrings ↗Completed2025-09-27Not stated in snapshot
AudiusCompuSafe Data Systems AGAnnounced2025-09-10Not stated in snapshot
AudiusErgonomicsAnnounced2025-06-06Not stated in snapshot

A discussion or rumour is not a completed transaction. An unstated value is not zero.

PEOPLE & OPPORTUNITY

The talent market

738 postings in the preceding 12 months. The full 1,340-posting snapshot covers 54 employers.

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Most advertised job titles

Floor Supervisor24
Security Officer19
Business Development Representative15
Account Manager15
Visual Merchandiser15
Project Manager11
0 internship postings

121 tracked postings mention remote work.

The seniority mix

407 postings specify a level.

unspecified
933
manager
237
senior
119
lead
30
intern
11
entry
10

Skills employers mention

Top skills across 1,340 tracked postings in the available jobs snapshot.

Python
91
Video Conferencing Software
74
Webcam
73
Computer
73
Sql
43
Mathematics
40
React
39
Math
39
Internet Connection
38
High Speed Internet Connection
35
ADVERTISED PAY$72.8K/ year

Median across 129 postings with pay data, expressed in USD.

THE PEOPLE BUILDING THE FIELD

Founders and leaders

235 founders and chief executives across 162 companies.

Expand panel +
12 profiles

Swipe or scroll horizontally to browse.

Education networks

63 profiles with education records.

Stanford University
18
Harvard University
10
Stanford Business School
4
Duke University
3
University of California (Berkeley)
3
University of Cambridge
3
INSEAD
3
Yale University
2

Prior employers

35 profiles with prior-work records.

Google
13
Facebook
7
Microsoft
5
Apple
4
Intel
3
McKinsey
2
Bain
2
Boston Consulting Group
2

Profiles cover recorded founders and leaders; contact details remain in Radar.

UNDERSTAND THE LANDSCAPE

Creator Economy in San Francisco: key questions

Clear definitions for making better comparisons.

What does this landscape measure?

It measures the tracked company ecosystem, recorded funding, hiring and other available evidence. It is not a market-size estimate.

Can segment counts be added together?

No. A company can belong to several segments, so segment counts and funding can overlap.

What does a missing figure mean?

A dash or unavailable panel means the current reviewed source snapshot does not support that figure.

Company ecosystem snapshot: 3 September 2026. Funding is recorded in USD; filed accounts retain their stated currency and reporting basis. Each section identifies its own coverage. The news and research behind these sections is explorable in Prism.

Canonical landscape ↗
Coming soon