NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SageSpot, the social platform for world-class creators, today announced it closed a $3 million seed round led by Khosla Ventures, with additional investment from superstar athletes Tom Brady, Rory McIlroy, Torrie Wilson, Larry Fitzgerald and others. The SageSpot platform provides creators with the power to generate revenue from their passionate followers through subscriptions and one-time high-quality content offerings. The capital will support the further development of its platform and allow the company to expand its current roster of world-class creators.
"SageSpot solves a major problem for more than 50 million creators around the world: monetization," said Samir Kaul, Founding Partner and Managing Director at Khosla Ventures. "Legacy social platforms make it easy to create large followings but often make it difficult for creators to earn money from their content. SageSpot empowers people to deliver their highly-valuable content directly to their most engaged fans that are proud to support them."
In 2020, YouTube and Facebook generated more than $103 billion in ad revenue alone. These and other legacy platforms rely on world-class creators' skill, time, and resources to help attract large, engaged audiences. Despite serving as critical sources of new users, views and engagement for Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and other platforms, world-class creators often are paid a fraction of the revenue their high-quality content generates. SageSpot aims to change the power dynamics within the creator economy by making it easier to establish subscriber-based communities where subject matter experts can deliver premium content directly to their core following.
“SageSpot is giving creators a chance to truly monetize their personal brands,” added Tom Brady, Quarterback of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and seven-time Super Bowl Champion. “Over the past decade, social platforms have obtained a lot of control over users and CJ and the SageSpot team are leading a movement to give creators a chance to fully leverage their valuable content how and when they want.”
SageSpot's social platform provides creators with a highly-effective tool to monetize their content and personal brand. The company’s subscriber-based model acts as a natural filter, so online personalities don’t have to worry about harmful or uninformed behavior creating a toxic environment for their fans. Instead, creators can share meticulously crafted content directly with their most passionate fans, who can view it and share their opinions with like-minded individuals.
Championship golfer Rory McIlroy adds, “I have grown up in the social media era and have experienced, firsthand, the considerable potential and challenges of the various platforms. SageSpot's model helps creators develop an affinity-driven space where like-minded fans can congregate, offer their opinions, view content and otherwise share their love of a sport, hobby or person. It's a fascinating step towards a friendlier, more positive online fan experience."
“Over the last ten years, creators have been severely let down by the lack of creativity and effort of legacy social platforms,” said SageSpot Founder and CEO CJ Dunne. “We are building SageSpot from the ground up for world-class creators who have earned the right to make money from their content. The endorsement of Khosla Ventures and a growing list of top creators and athletes validates the value in our platform and the opportunity that lies ahead of us.”
About Khosla Ventures
Khosla Ventures offers venture assistance, strategic advice, and capital to entrepreneurs. The firm helps entrepreneurs extend the potential of their ideas in breakthrough scientific work in clean technology areas such as bio-refineries for energy and bioplastics, solar, battery, and other environmentally friendly technologies, as well as traditional venture areas like the Internet, computing, mobile, and silicon technology arenas. Vinod Khosla founded the firm in 2004 and was formerly a General Partner at Kleiner Perkins and founder of Sun Microsystems. Khosla Ventures is based in Menlo Park, California. More information is available at www.khoslaventures.com.
About SageSpot
SageSpot is the social platform for world-class creators with a meaningful following on legacy social but are tired of chasing ad deals or working a 9 to 5. Founded in 2020, the Company transforms passionate followers into paid subscribers who form a dedicated community to consume creators' high-quality content and interact with like-minded individuals. For more information, please visit www.sagespot.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.
