Laterinfluencer marketing and social media management software company, acquires social influencer app Mavely for $250 million.
That’s a significant sum in the relatively new sector of social commerce. This acquisition accelerates Later’s ability to deliver comprehensive impact and measurable return on investment (ROI) to marketers while enabling creators to maximize revenue 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 everyday influencers who want to earn income through the sales commissions they generate for brands and retailers. In the first half of 2024, Mavely paid out more than $16 million in commissions, campaign fees and other revenue 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,” Scott Sutton, CEO of Later, said in an email to GamesBeat. “Mavely brings incredible technology, expertise and shared vision. By combining our strengths, we enhance the value we deliver to marketers and empower creators to build sustainable, revenue-generating businesses. This move allows us to provide marketers with a seamless and comprehensive experience, delivering campaigns based on return on ad spend (ROAS) and generating predictable and attributable results. Through this acquisition, we are able to create new and better opportunities for our customers, our employees and the entire creator ecosystem.
The company said Later’s integration with Mavely drives bottom-of-the-funnel results (purchases and revenue) for brands and retailers, which in combination with influencer campaigns focused on brand awareness Later’s brand and commitment, offers Later customers the opportunity to drive and prove the full funnel. impact.
“We have always believed in the power of creators to drive authentic engagement and real business results, at scale,” From Evan Wray, CEO of Mavely, said in an email to GamesBeat. “Joining forces with Later allows us to take it to the next level, creating a more comprehensive platform that delivers value to both creators and marketers. Together, we are 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, it will immediately benefit from Mavely’s revenue and participation rate growth on creator-generated GMV. With a growing base of creators and an increasing amount of revenue generated by those creators, this introduces a new flywheel effect of creator-led growth; this adds to Later’s Product-Led Growth and Sales-Led Growth GTM moves today.
Additionally, Mavely’s ROAS-based campaigns enable brands and retailers to generate three to five times ROI from affiliate, influencer, shopping commerce and media budgets. paying.
Future opportunities include paid media monetization to further amplify social posts containing Mavely links and retail media, where retailers can bid on digital real estate where Mavely creators decide which products to promote and to which destination retailer a link points.
The acquisition of Mavely secures the underlying technology and intellectual property that powers Later’s current affiliate integration and ensures that Later can continue to provide affiliate capabilities indefinitely.
Later has approximately 300 employees, plus approximately 75 Mavely employees, for a total of 375. Later was founded in 2014 in Vancouver, Canada as Latergramme, one of the first planning technology companies social media, and was eventually renamed. It was acquired in 2022 by the influencer marketing platform Mavrck, which changed its own name in 2024 to Later.
Mavely was founded in 2019 and is based in Chicago. Prior to its acquisition, Mavely was owned by Rhyz Inc, a subsidiary of Nu Skin Enterprises. Before that, it raised $1 million in a seed round.
Later has raised more than $276 million to date and is backed by private equity. It later financed its acquisition of Mavely through a strategic investment from investment firm Summit Partners.
