The Creator Economy gets paid: Patreon, Cameo, and Substack's mega-fundraises

Influencer. Artist. Force of Nature... The Creator Economy's Insta bio (don't forget the sponsor link). Like the rest of us, celebs/influencers/creators stayed home in 2020. Concert venues, comedy clubs, and film studios were closed. To cash in on their talents, creators went full DTA — Direct-to-Audience. Now, companies that help content creators directly monetize their work are thriving. And the venture capital cash is following:

• Patreon, the subscription site that lets you pay your favorite YouTuber, just raised $155M at a $4B valuation — up more than 3X from September 2020.
• Cameo is the startup that lets you request personalized vids from celebs (like Kevin from The Office). It hit a $1B valuation last week after a $100M fundraise, joining Club Unicorn.
• Substack, a platform for writers to publish paid email newsletters, is reportedly raising $65M in fresh funding at a $650M valuation.
• Clubhouse, the audio social network that loves tech chat rooms, reportedly might raise money at a $4B valuation (4X its January value).

Shoutouts mid-live stream... Fans love feeling connected to their favorite creators, and want to support them. That's great for Creator Economy startups. Not-so-great: where fans connect doesn't matter as much. Really not-so-great: Big Tech is copying Creator Economy features.