Lucy Guo is already a self-made millionaire who can put the cofounding of a bona fide unicorn, the $7 billion–valued Scale AI, on her resume. Now the 29-year-old entrepreneur has talked exclusively to Fortune about a $40 million Series A funding for her latest initiative, a creator monetization platform called Passes.
Passes previously raised $9 million in seed funding in 2022, led by Austin-based cryptocurrency and blockchain investor Multicoin Capital. That round included participation from Paris Hilton’s 11:11 Media, Jake Paul’s Anti Fund, and Eventbrite cofounder Kevin Hartz.
San Francisco–based Bond, run by Kleiner Perkins alums Mary Meeker and Mood Rowghani, led the round. Bond previously made an early investment in Humane, the startup behind the buzzy, wearable AI pin. The fund also made late-stage investments in Canva, Epic Games, DoorDash, and Uber. Guo plans to use the funding to expand the Passes team—currently at 15 people.
The Series A brought in participation from big names in tech and media, including Skims cofounders Emma and Jens Grede, and Crossbeam Ventures, the fund by Creative Arts Agency cofounder and former Disney president Michael Ovitz. She declined to disclose the company’s valuation.
Here’s what is so attracting major players from the Valley to Passes.
What does Passes do?
The Passes social platform helps content creators diversify their revenue streams by earning money directly from their audiences. Influencers with 100,000 followers across social platforms can use Passes to post exclusive content to paying subscribers, message fans, livestream, host one-on-one calls, and earn tips.
“I believe creators are small businesses, and it’s Passes’ goal to turn them into large businesses,” Guo told Fortune.
Social media creators typically earn money when companies pay them to advertise specific products to their audiences. But relying on brand deals leaves influencers with inconsistent income that depends on what companies want to work with them and when. As a result, their income can vary by thousands of dollars each month. Those who make money off social media are also at the whim of big platforms and their constantly changing algorithms, forcing them to adapt to what’s popular at the time. In an effort to diversify wages and receive more consistent payment, creators have turned to third-party platforms like Passes in recent years.
While Passes functions similarly…
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