CreatorDB cofounders Noah Hynam (president), Clayton Jacobs (CEO), and Andy Chou (VP of engineering).
Courtesy of CreatorDB
CreatorDB is an influencer marketing company split between Los Angeles and Taipei, Taiwan.The startup is six years old and recently raised funding from VCs for the first time.Read the pitch deck the company used to secure its $4.67 million Series A.
Clayton Jacobs, the CEO of influencer marketing company CreatorDB, thinks there can be a "healthy middle class" of content creators.
Jacobs told Business Insider that he usually recommends CreatorDB's clients go with a "pool of medium-sized creators" that "often will perform better than a single large creator if they're the same price."
Using data analytics and AI, CreatorDB wants to prove that to brands.
The company, headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan, raised its first venture capital investment since launching in 2019 to help do so. Its $4.67 million Series A, led by Acorn Pacific Ventures, will be used to further develop AI tools, launch a self-serve platform, and grow its US operations.
The company formally opened a Los Angeles office earlier this year and has about 80 employees globally, Jacobs said.
"We decided it was a good time to raise because we just immediately saw more ways that we could be deploying our technology," Jacobs said.
In addition to running creator campaigns end-to-end — from which CreatorDB earns a percentage — the platform offers clients creator discovery tools and the ability to license its API so they can build on top of its data analytics technology.
More recently, it's been building out its AI-powered offerings.
Jacobs said the company uses natural language processing and inference modeling to help its clients better understand the data behind influencer marketing. This includes content categorization, audience demographics, and pricing estimations.
He added that these tools could help "high-performing " small- and middle-tier creators get recognized by potential brand partners, and in turn, "get the same amount of opportunities" as larger-scale creators.
"I definitely saw some investors who had a bit of a hangover from 2021-2022 creator economy investing," Jacobs said, but added that since the company had been bootstrapped and hit profitability, that helped get investors on board.
CreatorDB also emphasized its global presence and expertise in the Asia-Pacific region in its pitch to investors.
Read the pitch deck CreatorDB used to raise its $4.7 million Series A:
Note: Some details and slides were either redacted or removed so that the deck could be shared publicly.
CreatorDB's pitch deck starts with a baseball reference
CreatorDB
"Leading the creator economy's much needed Moneyball revolution," the slide says, referencing the cost-efficient approach employed by former Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane.
Then the deck goes straight into an overview of the company
CreatorDB
Here's what the slide says:
Industry
Driving the next evolution of the creator economy with a data-driven approach to influencer marketingThe annual spend for influencer marketing has been doubling every 3.5 years since 2008Industry growth was further accelerated by the pandemic, with brands keeping their new budgets
Product
An ecosystem consisting of two primary products:
CreatorDB for businessesCreatorLabs for creators
Streamlining and standardizing influencer marketing through AI-powered analytics for better content fit, campaign scaling, and ROI optimization.Being primarily a self-service platform filling in the gap for companies not needing an agency partner.
Team
A world-class team with expertise in software, big data, and global brand marketing.65+ full-time employees across 14 languages, with leadership from top companies: Microsoft, IBM, HTC, Gogoro, ASE, Remitly
Traction
Bootstrapped while scaling revenue to millions and reached profitability in just 17 months.
Trusted by global brands, including: Perplexity, Shopee, World of Tanks, Remitly, Acer, McDonald's, Yakult, VISA, Surfshark, Oderlia, Dyson, Airalo
It outlines its traction
CreatorDB
Here's what the slide says:
Net Dollar Retention
115%+ NDR (customers expand spend year over year)
Capital Efficiency
Rule of 40 of 51% in 2024, exceeding industry benchmarksBurn Multiple (Net Loss / New Revenue) of 0.16 in 2024Operating margins improved >20 points YoY, while maintaining 56% growth
Customer Growth & Retention
3x increase in gross revenue rate in last 2 yearsNew marquee customers: Perplexity, Remitly, Notion, Airalo, Nomad, Emma
Database & IP
7B+ data points collected daily across 32M+ creator profiles2 patents granted; 7 in process all in AI space (NLP, inference, data pre-processing)Database scaled 3× creators, 2x daily data points in past year
The deck explains the problems it says creators and brands are facing
CreatorDB
Here's what the slide says:
The problems being experienced by both sides of the industry as it expands rapidly from being experimental to the core part of many businesses operations.
For Businesses
Discovering & engaging with relevant creatorsMeasuring and improving influencer marketing ROIScaling proven creator content strategies
For Creators
Understanding how to treat content creation like a businessConnecting with businesses while remaining independentMonetizing content in efficient and non-intrusive ways
CreatorDB outlines several solutions for creators and brands
CreatorDB
CreatorDB offers "comprehensive influencer marketing solutions tailored for businesses of all sizes," per the slide.
Here's what the rest of the slide says:
Agency
A full-service influencer marketing solution handling everything from creator sourcing to campaign execution, helping brands launch high-impact influencer campaigns with data-backed precision.
SaaS
A data-driven influencer marketing platform providing access to 10M+ creators, advanced insights, and campaign management tools to empower SMEs with scalable, self-service solutions.
Talent
A creator-first platform that connects influencers with brand deals, content insights, and monetization strategies, helping them scale their reach and revenue.
API
A scalable API that enables businesses to integrate influencer data, track competitor campaigns, and enhance audience targeting, powering smarter marketing decisions.
Then it explains why CreatorDB 'wins' and gives examples of its work with brands
CreatorDB
Here's what the slide says:
Serving the Underserved
SME-focused approach addressing a high-growth but often overlooked segment.Scales with clients as they grow, providing tailored solutions beyond enterprise-focused competitors.
Seamless Global Expansion
Proven track record in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, US, EU for fast, frictionless market entry.Cross-border playbook simplifies complex international campaigns.
Superior Data-Driven Insights
7B+ daily data points + patented categorization = smarter influencer selection.Outperforms traditional search tools for better targeting & ROI measurement.
Broader Access to Creators
Aggregates data from public sources for a far-reaching, diverse influencer pool.No reliance on opt-ins, ensuring brands can find niche and high-performing creators.
The slide also highlights some case studies with brand partners:
Surfshark: Became Asia's #1 VPN provider in 1.5 years after adopting our influencer strategy.Notion: Scaled influencer campaigns in Japan & Korea after a single successful trial.Cmma: Achieved rapid market penetration in Taiwan; scaling to Japan & Korea.Top 3 Global Social Media Co.: Selected CreatorDB's API after evaluating 10+ vendors.
The deck explains CreatorDB's proprietary database
CreatorDB
Here's what the slide says:
CreatorDB's proprietary database fuels smarter influencer marketing decisions with unparalleled depth and precision
The Most Insightful & Comprehensive Influencer Database
10M+ creators in database7B+ data points collected per day800k+ creators w/ direct contact info
We calculate data points unique to CreatorDB by utilizing in-house natural language processing (NLP) algorithms:
It also highlights the company's global presence across the US, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region
CreatorDB
Here's what the slide says:
Unlocking influencer marketingʼs fastest-growing and most underserved markets.
Headquartered in Taipei with office in Santa Monica, CreatorDB is uniquely positioned with a multilingual team (14 native languages) and deep expertise in global expansion.Our localized approach has helped Western brands break into Asia, scaling influencer campaigns across Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and SEA.APAC contains the fastest-growing opportunities in the creator economy with YouTube consumption doubling last year in every category.
Note: CreatorDB's office is now in Culver City, not Santa Monica, Jacobs said.
Then it outlines its business models
CreatorDB
Here's what the slide says:
Given that CreatorDB can provide value to the creator economy in a variety of ways, there are a handful of business models for us to earn revenue
Transactions
XX% of all creator transactions through CreatorDB 2.0XX% margins for clients needing a managed campaign
SaaS
CreatorDB 2.0's base monthly fee is $100—$1000 for brandsCreatorLabs works on a freemium model to get advanced tools
Data
Datasets targeted at companies contacting creatorsAn API for other creator economy tools to be built upon
The deck then dives into the broader influencer marketing industry
CreatorDB
Here's what the slide says:
Influencer Marketing projected to reach US$200B by 2032 (29% CAGR). As brands shift more of their marketing spend to influencer campaigns, our data-driven platform is positioned to capture a meaningful share.
US$200 Billion TAM
Total Addressable Market: Global Influencer Marketing by 2032
US$100 Billion SAM
Serviceable Available Market: Market segments aligned with our solutions
The slide lists Allied Market Research as its source.
The startup also stacks itself up next to competitors
CreatorDB
Here's what the slides says:
As with any exciting industry there are competitors, but CreatorDB separates itself through scalable systems, self-service, cross border functions and pricing which works for everybody.
CreatorDB says it does all of the following:
Collects data on 1,000,000s of influencersIndependent content categorizationAuto generates reports by industryLocalized data and customer success for APAC/NA/EUSelf-serve software focus
The slide lists companies like Mavrck, Upfluence, and Traackr as competitors.
CreatorDB wraps the deck by introducing its team
CreatorDB
Here's what the slide says:
Experienced data science and marketing team with 30+ years of experience
Clayton Jacobs, CEO & Founder: Technical product manager for B2B software, digital nomad and start-up addict.
Microsoft, Readwrite, and ULSee.
Noah Hynam, President & Founder: Team leader, social media enthusiast, and scholar of human behavior.
IBM
Andy Chou, VP Engineering & Founder: Big data mastermind, technical problem solver, and scalable system designer.
