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If you’re finding value in our Creator Economy newsletter, I encourage you to consider subscribing to The Information. It contains exclusive reporting on the most important stories in tech. Save up to $250 on your first year of access. Hello! This year is off to a solid start for creator economy acquisitions. We tallied at least a dozen acquisitions during the first three months of the year, up from four during the same period a year ago. In all of 2024, 31 companies in The Information’s Creator Economy Database were acquired. The deal flurry was in line with a broader jump in tech M&A. There were 12 acquisitions of VC-backed companies worth more than $1 billion in the first quarter, a new high, according to CB Insights. “We’re seeing deal activity pick up across the board,” said Chris Erwin, founder of Rockwater Industries, a mergers and strategy advisory firm focused on the creator economy and media, referring to both investments and acquisitions. One emerging trend: “We’re seeing new buyers and investors enter the space and inquire about deals.” Wonder, owner of food delivery company Grubhub, in March announced a $90 million acquisition of Tastemade. The 13-year-old media company creates food and travel content for social media apps like Instagram, and also launched its own subscription service. Erwin said Wonder’s deal shows how companies “look at content as a new way to acquire users more efficiently and more cost-effectively through a content and media network.” Plus, he said it’s a way for the food delivery company to build out new ad-driven revenue lines. Other deals are combining similar companies to accelerate growth. In January, influencer marketing firm Later acquired fellow influencer marketing platform Mavely for $250 million. Three other influencer marketing firms found buyers during the first quarter. Talent management firms that represent creators are also merging to expand their reach. In January, Shine Talent Group acquired Spark Talent Group, its second such acquisition. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Despite uncertainty with President Trump’s tariffs and stock market volatility, Erwin predicts the current “growth cycle” for the creator economy will persist for at least the next five to seven years as people spend more time on social media. “If you look at the specific tailwinds behind the creator space—with time spent, revenue and capital trends—that’s going to persist,” Erwin said. “We expect the [deal] activity is going to continue and persist and be resilient despite all the macro turmoil because within this sub-segment, this is where growth and major change and evolution is going to happen.” Here’s what else is going on… See The Information’s Creator Economy Database for an exclusive list of private companies and their investors. Instagram is considering a new feature called Storylines that would link sequences of disappearing Stories uploaded by multiple creators or friends, according to a Threads post from reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi. An Instagram spokesperson didn’t respond to a request for comment. Pinterest is testing a new pop-up notification for 13 to 17-year-olds in the U.S. and Canada during typical school hours, which prompts them to close the app and turn off notifications. Linktree, a link-in-bio startup, launched five new ways for creators to make money through its service, including the ability to sell digital products such as guides and ebooks, launch online courses through an integration with Kajabi, earn commissions from sponsored links, and create a virtual storefront with product recommendations. Respondology, a Boulder-based social media comment management service for brands, raised $5 million in Series A extension funding from investors including Iron Gate Capital, SJF Ventures and Zelkova Ventures. The startup’s features include moderating toxic comments, bots and spam, as well as analyzing comments for trends and sentiment. Hunter, a marketing and communications agency owned by publicly-traded holding company Stagwell, launched Bobbie, a new influencer marketing agency. The European Commission fined Apple and Meta Platforms hundreds of millions of dollars each for violating its Digital Markets Act, making the two tech giants the first companies to be fined under the new digital law. TikTok launched an elections hub on its app in Singapore, which will include information about voting and the upcoming election in the country next month. That’s the number of videos that have been uploaded to date on YouTube, the company announced on Wednesday. More than 20 million videos are uploaded daily to YouTube, the company said. The announcement was timed to the 20th anniversary of the first video shared on YouTube: “Me at the Zoo,” a 19-second clip from co-founder Jawed Karim. Andy Beshear, the Democratic Kentucky Governor, is the latest potential 2028 presidential hopeful to launch a podcast, according to The Hill. California Governor Gavin Newsom, also a Democrat, launched a podcast earlier this year, while Republican Senator Ted Cruz launched his podcast in 2020. | 
