Creator economy funding stayed active through September 2026, with 12 publicly announced deals totaling more than $1.39 billion, according to New Market Pitch’s monthly funding roundup and Tech Startups’ daily financing coverage.

Two late-stage rounds dominated the total: Whatnot’s $545 million Series G at a $20 billion valuation and ElevenLabs’ $500 million Series D at an $11 billion valuation together represented roughly 75% of the disclosed capital. Both companies disclosed valuations despite raising more than $500 million each, a rarity that highlights how difficult private creator economy valuations remain to benchmark.

Below the headline deals, the mix was telling. Six of the 12 rounds were Series A financings, suggesting startups are still reaching product-market fit across monetization, creator data and audience-management software. Five companies focused on helping brands work with creators — including Levanta, Astute, Passionfroot, Nectar Social and Devotion — making creator-brand infrastructure the most repeated category of the month.

AI was central to at least seven of the 12 companies, spanning voice generation, interactive mini-apps, influencer management, creator data access and community operations. And monetization is broadening beyond advertising: the month’s deals touched live commerce, affiliate commissions, music-rights finance, stock-content licensing and AI-powered expert products.

For creators, the pattern is encouraging. Capital is flowing into the infrastructure that helps creators earn — not just the platforms that host them. The concentration of brand-deal infrastructure deals suggests brands plan to spend more, and more systematically, with creators.

The takeaway for creators: follow where the tooling money goes. When investors fund creator-brand infrastructure and monetization software, it usually means those markets are about to get easier to use and more competitive — which favors creators who are already set up to take brand deals and sell directly.