Creator Now, the online film school for would-be YouTubers, co-founded by Airrack — known for having scrappily amassed 1 million subscribers in less than a year — has raised $3 million in seed funding.
Investors include Upfront Ventures, Casey Neistat, Colin & Samir, Justin Kan, and Jack Conte. The venture is profitable, Airrack – whose real name is Eric Decker – tells Tubefilter, though is currently re-investing revenues back into the business.
Funding will be harnessed to grow the platform so it can welcome more creators. Down the line, Creator Now also intends to introduce more specified courses, including those around storytelling, brand partnerships, team-building, editing, and product development.
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Decker launched Creator Now over the summer alongside Zack Honarvar (who serves as its CEO) and Kate Ward — both of One Day Entertainment, his management company. Every two months, the program invites groups of 300 participants – who pay $250 apiece – to participate in a six-week cohort.
Creator Now prizes an interactive and collaborative learning experience, placing creators onto teams to compete on consistency, viewership, and subscriber growth. The program also features live workshops with influential figures from the space.
Decker tells Tubefilter that while the structure will remain the same, Creator Now has implemented new tools and benefits since its launch, including a new networking tool to facilitate introductions between participants with complementary channel sizes, content niches, and geographies. The venture has also introduced a scholarship for female and non-binary creators.
Decker called out a recent workshop taught by lifestyle vlogger Ryan Trahan, and said that Creator Now also recently hosted a competition with fintech company Current, wherein participants won cash prizes creating branded video. One of the most successful creators to emerge from the program thus far, Decker says, is yoyo trickster Brandon Vu, who went from receiving 1,000 views to 10,000 views per video after completing the program.
