Check your LinkedIn DMs. You could be missing out on a potentially lucrative business deal.
That's the lesson Popular Pays CEO Corbett Drummey learned after initially missing a message from Rony Laufer, a vice president at content creator platform Lightricks. It took Laufer, whose firm was interested in acquiring the Chicago startup, two attempts to catch Drummey's attention before they were able to connect.
This week Lightricks, a venture-backed firm that makes popular photo and video editing apps like Facetune and Videoleap, announced it was acquiring Popular Pays to help the creators on its platform earn money from brand partnerships. Popular Pays, founded in 2013, connects brands with online influencers to run campaigns on Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok and other platforms.
Laufer said Lightricks, which has 30 million active users on its platforms, believes the addition of Popular Pays will now create a one-stop shop for creators to not only make content but connect with brands and get paid for their work.
"It was very clear to us that this was going to be a game changer," Laufer said. "This was going to change how creators create content and monetize it."
Terms of the deal weren't disclosed, but Laufer said the acquisition was "sizable" and worth "tens of millions of dollars."
For Drummey and Popular Pays, it's not the end of a nearly 10-year journey but rather a new chapter. The entire 30-person Popular Pays team is joining Lightricks, with plans to grow its headcount by 50% this year. Many of those roles will be in Chicago, Drummey said.
"It feels like a win for everyone," Drummey said. "Nothing's being shut down — it's being grown."
Drummey was out fundraising for Poplar Pays' next round when Laufer's message arrived. He said opting for an acquisition, rather than additional outside capital, gives the company not only financial runway but access to more creators it could have reached on its own.
"No matter how much we fundraised, we couldn’t have built a community of 30 million creators overnight," he said.
Popular Pays raised more than $12 million in funding since it launched. Its investors include Hyde Park Angels, Beringea, GoAhead VC, Lofty Ventures and Y Combinator.
Drummey said 2021 was the startup's best year yet, hitting record revenue and becoming profitable for the first time. More than 300 brands use Popular Pays for influencer marketing, including Google, Hyatt, Lyft and Delta.
Lightricks raised $130 million last year at a $1.8 billion valuation. Its suite of apps includes Facetune, a popular selfie-editing app, and Photoleap, an app for editing images.
Lightricks' backers include TikTok star Charli D’Amelio, who took an equity stake in the company earlier this year.
Now with Popular Pays, Lightricks believes it can make the path from content creator to paid brand sponsorship even easier. Creators will be able to apply for brand campaigns and get notifications when a relevant campaign becomes available, right from their apps.
"We have a vision and commitment to the growth of the creator economy, and Popular Pays fits this perfectly," Laufer said.
