Talent managers for micro influencers, 16 creator startups that raised millions, promising sports startups to watch

Hi, this is Amanda, and welcome to our weekly creator economy newsletter, Insider Creators. Don’t forget to subscribe!

Here’s what to expect in this week’s edition:?

• Top talent management firms and agencies for micro influencers

• 16 creator startups that raised millions of dollars in 2023

• 25 promising sports startups to watch, according to VCs and other top investors

• And more, including Instagram beefing up its “Close Friends” features and the WNBA commissioner weighs in on NIL .

Influential talent management firms and agencies for micro influencers

Some micro influencers — defined as creators with between 10,000 and 100,000 followers — can have very engaged audiences.

As these influencers grow, some seek management to help them expand their businesses.

Shriya Bhattacharya , Marta Biino , and I wrote about 16 influential talent management firms for micro influencers including Bad Moon Talent , CFG, and Estate Five Media .

"The right micro influencers have a unique ability to reach hyper-targeted audiences in a deeply authentic way, which can be more difficult to maintain when compared to macro creators," said Annelise Campbell , founder of CFG .?

Check out the list of firms here.

16 creator startups that raised millions of dollars in 2023

It's been a tough year for fundraising in the creator space.

Dan Whateley and Sydney Bradley wrote about 16 companies that managed to fundraise despite the recent downturn.

"We knew going into it that we are fundraising in arguably the most challenging fundraising environment in recent times," said Arthur Leopold, cofounder of the creator-marketing platform Agentio and a former president at Cameo. Leopold pointed to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and a broad decline in seed funding as making the moment particularly difficult.

Check out the full list here.

25 promising sports startups to watch, according to VCs and other top investors

Margaret Fleming and Ashley Rodriguez asked top sports VCs and investors for the most promising startups in the space.

Their list spans companies innovating in AI, tech, ticketing, media, and betting. It includes Dabble, which is bringing social features like the ability to follow fellow bettors and copy their wagers to sports betting, and women's health company Eli Health.

Read the full list of startups here.

More coverage from this week:

The business of being a creator

• The WNBA commissioner weighs in on NIL (Business Insider)

• Former staffers of MrBeast explain what it's like to work for the top YouTuber (Business Insider)

• How a D1 college volleyball player scored more than 40 NIL deals this year (Business Insider)

Social platform and creator economy startup news?

• Instagram is beefing up its Close Friends features (Business Insider)

• Almost half of US consumers bought something via social media this year (Business Insider)

• Exclusive Spotify data shows the top 15 rising star podcast creators (Business Insider)

What’s happening in digital culture

• Anna Indiana is the worlds first all-AI singer-songwriter (Business Insider)

• An agency created an AI model who earns up to $11,000 a month (Business Insider)

Thanks for reading! Send me your tips, comments, or questions: [email protected] .