Amsterdam-based Creative Fabrica, a marketplace for digital files like print-on-demand posters, fonts and graphics, has raised $61m, profiting from the recent generative AI boom. The round is a mixture of debt and equity; the company declined to say what the percentage of each was.
The round, which comes only a year after the startup’s Series A, was led by French VC firm Alven, joined by US investment fund LionTree and UK VC Triple Point, with the participation of existing investors.
What does Creative Fabrica do?
Launched in 2016, Creative Fabrica is a marketplace for artsy digital assets, tools and masterclasses — from fonts and posters to embroidery, die-cutting designs and quilting. It operates both as a marketplace for one-off purchases as well as a subscription service, which generates the majority of the revenue.
The creators can sell their products on the marketplace — each asset receives points once it’s downloaded by the customers. The designers get paid at the end of each month, based on the amount of points their assets have received.
The startup recently launched a suite of tools that uses a generative AI called CF Spark to allow creators and designers to generate images using text prompts. In the past three months customers used Spark to generate over 15m images; for comparison, its regular library has 7m products.
Creative Fabrica is already in use by 4m users and has over 150k paying subscribers. It sells its products in 175 countries, mostly in the US, UK, Canada and Australia.
What’s the market like?
There are several other marketplaces selling generic and stock digital assets, like Etsy or Creative Market. But Roemie Hillenaar, the startup’s CEO, says that while its competitors traditionally focus primarily on selling to professionals who might need these assets for work, Creative Fabrica also caters to non-professionals like crafters.
“We have always been focused on building accessible content and tools, easy to use and offering a very broad range beyond standard graphics, such as fonts, needlework patterns, craft designs and tools,” he adds.
Who’s investing?
- Alven, a French VC
- LionTree, a US investment fund
- Triple Point, a UK VC
- Peak, a Dutch VC
- Felix Capital, a UK VC
- FJ Labs, a US VC
What’s next for Creative Fabrica?
The company plans to use the new funding to develop existing and new creator verticals and expand its creative generative AI toolset.
It also wants to grow the team. “Over the past year we have grown from roughly 35 to 90 employees. In the coming year we focus on senior hires to support the growth of the organisation,” says Hillenaar, stressing that the company is now hiring tech talent in generative AI and beyond.
The fresh cash might also give the company options for possible future acquisitions “when opportunities arise”, he adds.
Sifted’s take
Creative Fabrica’s round proves that even despite the market downturn, investors are still interested in startups that bet on creativity and art — if they have a substantial client base and a working business model.
The recent boom around generative AI has also certainly helped fundraising — and is likely to be a driving factor for growth and investment opportunities in other startups that operate in the creative economy.
The pitch deck the founders used
Sifted's been given access to Creative Fabrica's pitch deck from its recent raise. Check it out below.
