More than 200,000 musicians, journalists, podcasters, and other creators rely on Patreon to make money. Now the membership platform, which allows creators to charge "Patrons" for their content, is reaping the benefits with some fundraising of its own.
The San Francisco-based company just completed a $155 million funding round led by Tiger Global that brought its total valuation to $4 billion.
Jack Conte, CEO and co-founder of Patreon, told Cheddar that the investment will help the company continue to "internationalize" and bring its platform to creators around the world.
"They want the platform in languages other than English and in currencies other than dollars," he said.
Patreon is currently supported in German, French, Spanish, and Italian. As for currencies, it supports Euros, British pound sterlings, Canadian dollars, and Australian dollars.
While Patreon has steadily expanded its network since launching eight years ago, the platform got a serious boost due to the pandemic, which shut down large swaths of the creative economy such as concerts and other in-person events. In the first few weeks of March 2020 alone, 30,000 creators started accounts, according to a blog post from the company.
"The pandemic has been really tough for a lot of people, and especially creators — especially creators who relied on in-person events as one of their main streams of revenue," Conte said.
The platform currently has six million subscribers who generate more than a billion dollars in revenue for creators. Conte said the experience of the pandemic, as well as the growth of the creative economy in general, is driving the adoption of Patreon's membership-based model.
"I think one thing that creators are trying to do right now is build out their businesses and diversify their business to make sure that they're getting revenue from a variety of places, and running a membership business and building special experiences for your most passionate fans is a great, fun, exciting way to do that as a creator," he said.
Despite reports that Patreon is considering a public listing as soon as this year, Conte said the company does not have a set timeline and is focused on other priorities, such as improving the experience of both fans and creators.
"There's no timing right now," he said. "We're not focused on that right now as a company."
Conte also expressed his belief that the next 10 years will be "the decade of the creator."
"I really think that we're entering a second renaissance right now," he said.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
Chipmaker Nvidia is poised to release a quarterly report that could provide a better sense of whether the stock market has been riding an overhyped artificial intelligence bubble or is being propelled by a technological boom that’s still gathering momentum.
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Low-value imports are losing their duty-free status in the U.S. this week as part of President Donald Trump's agenda for making the nation less dependent on foreign goods. A widely used customs exemption for international shipments worth $800 or less is set to end starting on Friday. Trump already ended the “de minimis” rule for inexpensive items sent from China and Hong Kong, but having to pay import taxes on small parcels from everywhere else likely will be a big change for some small businesses and online shoppers. Purchases that previously entered the U.S. without needing to clear customs will be subject to the origin country’s tariff rate, which can range from 10% to 50%.
Southwest Airlines will soon require plus-size travelers to pay for an extra seat in advance if they can't fit within the armrests of one seat. This change is part of several updates the airline is making. The new rule starts on Jan. 27, the same day Southwest begins assigning seats. Currently, plus-size passengers can pay for an extra seat in advance and later get a refund, or request a free extra seat at the airport. Under the new policy, refunds are still possible but not guaranteed. Southwest said in a statement it is updating policies to prepare for assigned seating next year.
Cracker Barrel is sticking with its new logo. For now. But the chain is also apologizing to fans who were angered when the change was announced last week.
Elon Musk on Monday targeted Apple and OpenAI in an antitrust lawsuit alleging that the iPhone maker and the ChatGPT maker are teaming up to thwart competition in artificial intelligence.
