Passionfroot raises $15M to expand its B2B creator marketplace to the US
Quick Answer
Passionfroot, a German B2B creator marketplace, has raised $15M in Series A funding to expand into the U.S.
Quick Take
and Brazil. With a 13x revenue increase and clients like Figma and Replit, the startup aims to leverage AI for brand visibility and creator monetization.
Key Points
- Funding led by Insight Partners, with participation from Creandum and Supernode Global.
- Passionfroot's revenue increased 13 times over the past year.
- The startup has paid creators over $10 million in the last 18 months.
- New AI agent Zest helps brands manage campaign performance and creator matching.
- Passionfroot is opening offices in New York and Sao Paulo to support expansion.
DeepSignal Analysis
What happened
Passionfroot, a German B2B creator marketplace, has secured $15 million in Series A funding led by Insight Partners. The company plans to expand its operations into the U.S. and Brazil, increasing its workforce and opening new offices. It reported a 13x revenue growth and has onboarded notable clients such as Figma and Replit.
Key evidence
- Passionfroot raised $15 million in a Series A funding round led by Insight Partners to expand into the U.S. and Brazil.
- The startup reported a 13x increase in revenue over the past year and has attracted clients including ElevenLabs, Figma, and Replit.
- Passionfroot claims to have paid creators at least $10 million on its platform in the last 18 months.
Why it matters
The funding and expansion into new markets highlight the growing demand for creator-driven marketing strategies, particularly as AI technologies proliferate. With increasing competition in the B2B space, companies are seeking innovative ways to enhance brand visibility and recognition through creators. Passionfroot's approach may position it favorably in a crowded marketplace, leveraging its proprietary tools to connect brands with specialized creators.
📖 Reader Mode
~3 min readPassionfroot, a German startup building a marketplace connecting B2B creators with brands, said on Wednesday it has raised $15M in a Series A funding round led by Insight Partners.
Rebecca Liu-Doyle, managing director at Insight Partners, said Passionfroot is placed well at a time when creators are specializing as AI companies look for more visibility.
“Passionfroot has the perfect dynamics on both sides to warrant a true marketplace for B2B creators. On the demand side, there is increasing consumerization of the way B2B brands go to market. That’s a product of, in part, AI technology requiring evangelism, narrative building and education. On the supply side, there are people who have real expertise, understand a market deeply, and want to create quality content,” she told TechCrunch over a call.
With the funding, the Berlin-based startup’s co-founder and CEO, Jen Phan, is moving to New York, where Passionfroot is opening an office to expand its U.S. operations. The company is also opening an office in Sao Paulo, and expanding its current headcount of 15 employees.
As AI makes it easier to build products, companies are focusing on using creators to improve brand recall and recognition, Phan said.
“Every head of marketing or growth leader I’m talking to is saying really the same thing: AI is commoditizing software and flooding every category with new products, features, and launches. It’s incredibly crowded and noisy. That is why B2B buyers are going to channels like LinkedIn, a creator’s Substack, or a podcast on YouTube to discover new products and tools,” she said.
Phan said over the last year, the company increased its revenue by 13 times, and onboarded clients such as ElevenLabs, Figma, Replit, Framer and Gamma.
Since its last fundraise in 2024, the company has released an AI agent called Zest, which helps brands create, execute and monitor the performance of campaigns. Passionfruit claims Zest can also help companies find suitable creators both inside and outside the platform that are suited to its marketing strategy.
The startup says it uses a proprietary creator graph based on data about reach and performance from thousands of campaigns. There’s also a wallet that companies can use to pay creators across the globe, and measure their expenditure.
Passionfroot claims it has paid at least $10 million to creators on its platform in the last 18 months.
The company says it is working on helping its clients measure how a campaign is impacting AI citations, and how their brand appears in AI-powered answers. The startup is also planning to build AI features for creators, such as helping them with monetization tips and content ideas.
The funding comes as creator platforms like Substack and Beehiiv move to help creators find better monetization opportunities. Beehiiv launched a new community and ad marketplace last week, and Substack has introduced subscriber-only perks within newsletters.
Passionfroot’s Series A also saw participation from existing investors Creandum, Supernode Global, and s16vc. The company has raised more than $21 million so far.
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Ivan covers global consumer tech developments at TechCrunch. He is based out of India and has previously worked at publications including Huffington Post and The Next Web.
You can contact or verify outreach from Ivan by emailing im@ivanmehta.com or via encrypted message at ivan.42 on Signal.
— Originally published at techcrunch.com
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