Later, an influencer marketing and social media management software firm, is acquiring social influencer app Mavely for $250 million.
That’s a big amount in the relatively new social commerce industry. This acquisition accelerates Later’s ability to deliver full-funnel impact and measurable return-on-investment (ROI) for marketers while enabling creators to maximize their earnings through social commerce.
Later is a leader in enterprise influencer marketing and social media management software and services trusted by brands like YouTube, ESPN, Kylie Cosmetics and more.
And Mavely is an app for the everyday influencer who wants to earn income through commissions on the sales they drive for brands and retailers. In the first half of 2024, Mavely paid out over $16 million in commissions, campaign fees and other earnings to its more than 85,000 creators.
“Bringing Mavely under the Later umbrella is a major step in redefining how marketers and creators work together,” said Scott Sutton, CEO of Later, in an email to GamesBeat. “Mavely brings incredible technology, expertise, and a shared vision. By combining our strengths, we are enhancing the value we provide to marketers and empowering creators to build sustainable, income-generating businesses. This move enables us to deliver a seamless, full-funnel experience for marketers—offering return-on-ad-spend (ROAS) based campaigns and driving predictable, attributable outcomes. Through this acquisition, we’re able to create new and better opportunities for our clients, employees, and the entire creator ecosystem.”
The company said Later’s integration with Mavely drives bottom-of-funnel outcomes (purchases and revenue) for brands and retailers—which in combination with Later’s brand awareness- and engagement-leaning influencer campaigns offers Later customers the ability to drive and prove full-funnel impact.
“We’ve always believed in the power of creators to drive authentic engagement and real business outcomes, at scale,” said From Evan Wray, CEO of Mavely, in an email to GamesBeat. “Joining forces with Later allows us to take this to the next level, creating a more comprehensive platform that delivers value to both creators and marketers. Together, we’re building a future where creators are at the center of the marketing ecosystem, and brands have the tools they need to connect with their audiences in impactful and measurable ways.”
It also adds two new social commerce revenue streams today and several future revenue opportunities. Later will benefit immediately from the revenue and growth of Mavely’s take rate on GMV driven by creators. With a growing base of creators and a growing amount of revenue driven by those creators, it introduces a new flywheel effect of Creator-Led Growth; this is in addition to Later’s Product-Led Growth and sales-led growth GTM motions today.
Additionally, Mavely’s ROAS-based campaigns enable brands and retailers to drive three times to five times return on ad spend from Affiliate, Influencer, Shopper Commerce, and Paid Media budgets.
Future opportunities include monetizing paid media to further amplify social posts containing Mavely links and retail media, where retailers can bid on the digital real estate where Mavely creators are deciding what products to promote and to which retailer destination a link points.
The acquisition of Mavely secures the underlying technology and IP that powers Later’s current affiliate integration and ensures Later will indefinitely be able to continue delivering affiliate capabilities.
Later has about 300 employees, and it will be adding about 75 from Mavely, for a total of 375. Later was founded in 2014 in Vancouver, Canada, as Latergramme, one of the first social media scheduling tech firms, and was eventually renamed. It was acquired in 2022 by influencer marketing platform Mavrck, which changed its own name in 2024 to Later.
Mavely was founded in 2019 and is based on Chicago. Before it was acquired, Mavely was owned by Rhyz Inc, a subsidiary of Nu Skin Enterprises. Prior to that, it had raised $1 million in a seed round.
Later has raised more than $276 million to date and is backed by private equity. Later funded its acquisition of Mavely with a strategic investment from investment firm Summit Partners.
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