SuperOrdinary wants to be the next unicorn out of the creator economy — and it’s betting on live shopping and influencers to get there.
The brand accelerator and creator monetization startup was recently valued at over $800 million and secured a $58 million Series B investment round.
SuperOrdinary, which officially launched in 2018 in Shanghai, and opened its Los Angeles headquarters in 2021, is on track to “turn profitable,” CEO and founder Julian Reis told Insider.
“We have a very clear vision over the next couple of years where we see the market going, and the creator economy is a very large part of that,” Reis said.
Last year, SuperOrdinary acquired the creator-monetization startup Fanfix in an 8-figure deal — a purchase that has proven beneficial to SuperOrdinary as the company reports that Fanfix has grown its business 12-fold.
“When we first acquired Fanfix, a lot of people questioned me and said, ‘Why would you do that?'” Reis said. “The ecosystem we are building is really a one-stop shop.”
On top of Fanfix’s creator-membership tools, SuperOrdinary currently provides services to scale brands’ global presence, an e-commerce platform called Galagala that’s curated by creators, and a digital-talent-management arm.
“We’re able to work with each creator independently and understand their needs,” Reis added.
He added that for the creators who want to sell products via livestreams, SuperOrdinary plans to help US-based creators and brands livestream products into the Chinese market.
“We’re uniquely positioned to do that since we have operations in both countries,” he said.
Looking forward, Reis said that the Series B funding would go toward investments into people (the company said it currently employs 500 people), tech (it has already increased its engineering staff by 300% since last year), and working capital for inventory.
“Over the next couple of years, we have very aggressive revenue and profitability goals,” Reis said.
Why SuperOrdinary is bullish on live shopping
While live shopping has had a lukewarm appeal in the US, SuperOrdinary sees itself as a potential breakthrough.
“SuperOrdinary has been live shopping or livestreaming since the beginning of the company,” Reis said. “I think we are experts in it. We’ve built a reputation as being one of the largest livestreamers in the business internationally, predominantly on platforms like TikTok.”
This past year, TikTok has doubled down on its shopping features as it brought TikTok Shop to the US after testing the product in the UK and other markets like Indonesia (though Indonesia has since banned the feature). The ByteDance-owned company has since tried to woo creators with cash bonuses and customers with discounts. Insider reported in October that TikTok also plans to push “key livestreams” as part of the company’s Black Friday strategy.
“We’re in a very unique time in the world, especially in the US, and we see the consumer is spending a lot more time on the platform,” Reis said. “We started live streaming in the US already, and we continue to lean into it.”
The key to cracking live shopping isn’t just discounts, Reis added, but fine-tuning the experience for the American consumer.
“We really think that the consumer here is slowly moving across to more entertainment-style shopping,” Reis said.
Still, according to a recent Insider Intelligence survey conducted by Bizrate Insights, about 58% of US adult respondents reported that they had “neither used nor are interested in live shopping” and only 19% reported being “somewhat or very interested.”
What SuperOrdinary looks for in creator-founded brands
Since 2020, content creators left and right have been launching brands — some bootstrapped and others in partnership with a bigger company.
Not all creator-founded brands have had happy endings, however. For instance, Addison Rae’s Item Beauty line was dropped by Sephora and the TikTok celebrity announced she was taking a hiatus from the brand. MrBeast’s ghost-kitchen burger joint also turned sour after bad reviews and a lawsuit MrBeast filed against the ghost-kitchen partner.
“Oftentimes, when you have a good creative brands, the product itself is not good,” Reis said of the broader ecosystem of creator brands.
SuperOrdinary still sees potential in creators as founders, however. The company has worked with creator-founded brands like Jen Atkin’s haircare brand Ouai or David Yi’s skincare brand Good Light, per the company’s website.
When it comes to building a brand, Reis said that — while cliche — “authenticity between the creator and the product they’re selling” is crucial.
“This goes true with celebrity brands, not just creators,” Reis added. “How many skincare and makeup celebrity brands have we seen that come in and have gone?”
SuperOrdinary sticks to working with brands that already generate $10 million in revenue, which Reis added “is not a fixed number” but instead, “a guidance” to streamline what stage a brand should be in if the company decides to take them on. Brands that already have $10 million in revenue are more likely to have a successful social-media presence, solid team, and can handle working with SuperOrdinary, he said.
“Our job is to truly understand the brand, understand the meaning, the DNA of a brand, and really help accelerate that brand globally,” Reis said. “We have hundreds of channels that we work with, and it’s all heavily dependent on the brand itself.”
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