Today, we’re excited to announce that we’ve raised $110M Series B that was led by Lone Pine capital, with participation from BOND and all our institutional insiders.
When we launched GRIN in 2017, we saw that influencer marketing teams were struggling to hit their goals. This was because the collaboration process between brand & influencer had been hijacked by middlemen such as marketplaces and agencies.
In 2018, we created Authentic Influencer Marketing to address this problem — to empower brand teams to own their direct influencer relationships, so they could cultivate honest endorsements to the consumer.
We knew that the key to cultivating trusted content from influencers was for the brand to build relationships directly, not through a middleman. Brands needed to see influencers not as a transaction, but as a real connection to deliver trust to the consumer.
Today, we are in the Creator Economy.
Consumers now see social influencers, athletes, bloggers, their friends and journalists as one-in-the same. They’re all creators, delivering content on a screen…. which bleeds into real life.
We now know that focusing on influencer marketing alone, is not enough.
For brands to win they need marketing teams working together to build relationships with every creator. From customers & influencers, to affiliates & journalists. Every person who reaches the consumer on behalf of the brand must be identified, understood and nurtured.
Which is why alongside this financing, we’re also introducing Creator Management, a new software category we’ve pioneered to help brands thrive in today’s creator economy.
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts to everyone who has supported us on our journey thus far. Our team, customers and investors. While we’re clear eyed and focused on the road ahead, today we celebrate a massive milestone in GRIN’s history. The future is bright and we’re ready!
–Brandon, Brian, Ryan
See the official press release below;
Investment will propel the launch of new solutions for DTC Brands and Creators
Sacramento, California – Oct 13, 2021 – GRIN, the leading creator management platform for direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands, today announced it has closed a $110 million Series B funding round led by Lone Pine Capital. The round also included participation from BOND, a host of top content creators like The Chainsmokers, Devon Levesque, and others, in addition to existing investors like Imaginary Ventures. The new funding increases GRIN’s overall valuation to $910 million and will allow the company to continue growing its executive leadership team, expand into international markets and continue working toward its vision of building the infrastructure for the creator economy. With the creator economy currently estimated at over $100 billion and growing every day, both brands and creators need new ways to optimize partnerships as the pool of creators expands beyond “influencers.” GRIN’s creator management platform enables brands to form close relationships with every creator they work with, including influencers, affiliates, athletes, celebrities, traditional content creators and even customers. In addition to continuing to solve problems for DTC brands, GRIN is also working to solve problems for creators with a suite of tools covering finance, communications, and more.“It’s becoming more apparent than ever that the creator economy is here to stay. Where consumers used to watch TV stations, they now turn to people on social media as their trusted source for entertainment,” said Brandon Brown, CEO and Co-Founder of GRIN. “Authenticity is critical in the creator economy, and that’s why we built GRIN, a SaaS platform built for creator management that is trusted by thousands of the world’s leading brands. GRIN provides the best overall solution for brands and creators seeking direct, authentic partnerships that will resonate.”Post-pandemic, the nature of the creator economy will inevitably evolve. Through this latest round, GRIN will revolutionize the ongoing narratives within the industry by addressing the pain points and improving the quality of the professional brand/creator working experience. Prepared to constantly meet the needs of its user base, GRIN has set its sights not only on U.S. growth, but also on expansion to international territories, including the UK and Australia.
“Lone Pine focuses on disruptive companies that are bringing game-changing solutions to their respective industries,” said Kelly Granat, Portfolio Manager at Lone Pine Capital. “GRIN is the definitive leader in influencer marketing, well-positioned to solve some of the biggest challenges the market will face as the creator economy continues to expand and evolve. Lone Pine is pleased to be working with GRIN to help lay the groundwork for the next phase of growth, and we look forward to being a part of the GRIN story as the company continues to reshape the creator economy.”Supporting the goal of expanding its executive leadership team, GRIN has welcomed Jay Simons of BOND to the company as a Board observer. Prior to joining GRIN, Simons served as the president of Atlassian and currently sits on the board of HubSpot.
“As a brand, it can be difficult to collaborate with creators on content that will resonate with our audience and naturally connect to the product,” said Majed Mased, Founder of Mejuri. “GRIN has been instrumental in our early success, genuinely helping us scale creator management at our company. Their focus on authenticity, and providing the essential tools to build the best relationships possible, allows for everyone involved to focus on what truly matters – great content. We are huge supporters of everything GRIN is doing to revolutionize the creator economy.”Learn more about Creator Management here.
