Mavrck raises $120M to scale its influencer marketing platform

The rise and influence of influencers has been one of the most significant forces in the development of the modern online social landscape in recent times. Today, a company tapping into that gigantic influence, specifically how it works in the marketing world, is announcing a massive fundraising campaign to keep riding that wave.

Mavrck, who built a platform for brands and media companies to engage and engage with influencers for marketing campaigns, raised $120m in growth capital from a single backer. funds, Summit Partners. Mavrck will use the capital to continue to invest in its platform and grow its business. It does not disclose an evaluation.

"We will use this investment to double our industry-leading platform and double our team," Lyle Stevens, co-founder and CEO, said in an email interview. “In doing so, we will become the smartest platform on the market with petabytes of historical data we have… This data will power the recommendation engines of the Mavrck platform that will help marketers do business with the right people. creators, in the right way at the right price."

Today, the company already has strong traction and momentum.

Stevens said the company's "Influence Index" — as its directory is called — currently lists "millions of reachable macro and micro influencers globally and across all major social platforms." Some 500 brands and 5,000 marketers are already using Mavrck to connect with these influencers. And in total, since its inception in 2014, Mavrck has connected brands to over 3 million influencers and creators, reaching over 240 million consumers, primarily through “native” sponsored content across various media, including videos. and photos, blogs and podcasts.

Stevens said the core of Mavrck's technology is based on proprietary algorithms and first-party opt-in data, which brands use to find and connect with influencers who speak to the audiences marketers hope to reach. . It's built some 25 different search filters — covering areas like audience demographics, historical performance, fraud risk — to narrow down the broader repertoire to those that match what they need. It then provides them with a platform to engage with each other to work on projects and eventually pay for them.

"We also have the technology to allow our clients to invite or import their existing influencer and consumer relationships to build their own network of ambassadors," he added.

Influencer marketing spend has become a very big business within the broader marketing realm, growing 55% in the last year, with two-thirds of brands now deploying an influencer marketing strategy in one way or another. 'another. 

At the same time, Stevens notes that the creator economy is "growing rapidly as more people turn to content creation as a secondary or primary source of income." He cites figures from eMarketer which estimated that in 2020, 50 million people identified themselves as "creators". And if you have a child, you might nod a little in recognition of the results of a Harris poll last year which found that around 30% of children said their ambition was to become a "YouTuber" ( only 11% said "astronaut") .

“We want to support this new creative class by connecting them to corporate consumer brands around the world, empowering them to turn their passion into an opportunity to earn a living,” Stevens said.

The role of a company like Mavrck is not only to connect marketers with influencers, but also to take the pulse of where influencer content has the most impact. Although this is a very fragmented space - blogs, for example, can still power, especially with certain types of products and consumers - when it comes to single platforms at the largest scale, social apps are always at the top of the heap.

Stevens notes that Instagram remains the foremost fashionable platform these days for influencer content, helped by the social app’s shift in 2016 to displaying content algorithmic ruleically rather than chronologically. however whereas Instagram still dominates, that's getting down to shift.

 The Tiktok For You Page algorithm seems to be taking market share from Instagram, as we've got seen a 500% increase year over year within the range of creators being activated on TikTok by our complete customers, he said. “If that trend continues, we have a tendency to anticipate TikTok to dominate influencer selling over succeeding 5 years.”

Whichever platform ends up on top, Stevens believes that influencers and influencer selling aren't a flash within the pan, however are here to stay.

 you thinking that regarding the last purchase you made, odds are you were influenced or persuaded by what others say and show online, versus what a complete aforementioned to you directly,” he said. “Those other people is friends, like  strangers or creators you select to follow online. this idea of social proof has become an important brand building tool for shopper enterprises. within the wake of COVID and therefore the corresponding changes in consumer buying behavior, shopper engagement with creators has enhanced 70%. As a result, completes are investment a lot of in social proof to not solely thrive, however keep relevant and survive.”

That’s enough to influence investors, too.

“At Summit, we've got invested with across the commerce section – in each brands and therefore the technologies that support their growth – and that we believe powerfully within the impact and potential of authentic brand relationships as a way to create value,” aforementioned archangel Medici, MD at Summit Partners, during a statement.

“Brands are progressively seeking to harness the power of the terribly long tail of content creators to assist drive complete awareness and influence purchase activity,” other Sophia Popova, principal at Summit Partners. we have a tendency to are delighted to partner with Lyle and therefore the Mavrck team for this next part of growth.” each of them have joined the board with this round.