Passionfroot, a German startup building a marketplace connecting B2B creators with brands, announced it has raised $15M in a Series A funding round led by Insight Partners. The company plans to use the funds to expand its U.S. operations by opening an office in New York and increasing its headcount from 15 employees. Jen Phan, the co-founder and CEO of Passionfroot, will move to New York to oversee the expansion. The funding also includes participation from existing investors Creandum, Supernode Global, and s16vc. Passionfroot has raised more than $21 million so far, according to TechCrunch.
Phan noted that as AI makes it easier to build products, companies are focusing on using creators to improve brand recall and recognition. She said that every head of marketing or growth leader she talks to is saying the same thing: AI is commoditizing software and flooding every category with new products, features, and launches. This has made the market incredibly crowded and noisy, prompting B2B buyers to turn to channels like LinkedIn, Substack, and YouTube podcasts to discover new tools and products. Passionfroot claims it has paid at least $10 million to creators on its platform in the last 18 months.
Since its last fundraise in 2024, the company has released an AI agent called Zest, which helps brands create, execute, and monitor the performance of campaigns. Passionfroot claims Zest can also help companies find suitable creators both inside and outside the platform that are suited to its marketing strategy. The startup says it uses a proprietary creator graph based on data about reach and performance from thousands of campaigns. There’s also a wallet that companies can use to pay creators across the globe and measure their expenditure. Passionfroot is also planning to build AI features for creators, such as helping them with monetization tips and content ideas.
Source: techcrunch
