Back in 2021, content creator-focused fintech company Creative Juice launched with its debut product: Juice Funds, a pool of cash it described as “a groundbreaking way for creators to support each other and invest in their peers’ businesses.”
Creative Juice originally planned to make around $2 million worth of Juice Funds available (with up to $250,000 of that coming from founding investor MrBeast). The idea was if creators had access to a large lump sum of liquid capital, they’d be able to grow their channels and their content far more quickly than if they were just reinvesting their monthly earnings from platforms like YouTube.
Creative Juice went on to raise its own fresh round of funding in April 2022, and subsequently upped the Juice Funds pool to $50 million.
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The company also introduced two new variations of the fund: Juice Funds Refresh, where Creative Juice licenses creators’ existing back catalogs of YouTube content for upfront cash in order to get the associated ad revenues in the future (a la Spotter); and Juice Funds Reserve, where creators get investment and “access to a dedicated Juice team member” in exchange for a percentage of their future revenue on YouTube, Facebook, Twitch, and/or Patreon.
To date, Creative Juice says it’s invested millions of dollars in hundreds of creators through the various Juice Funds outlined above.
So, how’s that working out for the creators?
According to data from Creative Juice made available exclusively to Tubefilter, Juice Funds recipients have seen a range of benefits.
More than 70% of recipients grew their teams by hiring staff, like writers and editors. 70% of recipients also upgraded their equipment from basic cameras to full studio setups. 30% of recipients, meanwhile, have launched a new content channel or a new business since receiving their funds.
From Creative Juice
Creative Juice says that after receiving funds, creators on average were able to increase their content output by 1.7 times, and were able to charge 2.4 times more for brand deals. That resulted in over 20% of Juice Funds recipients seeing at least a 25% boost in their monthly revenue, and a variety of boosts in their viewership.
Plant enthusiast growwithjo (4 million subscribers), for example, has seen a 54% increase in monthly revenue and a 47% increase in monthly views. Variety creator oompaville (4.3M) saw a 65% jump in revenue and a 23% jump in views. And YouTuber family Rock Squad (1.3M) saw a 340% increase in revenue and an 860% increase in viewership.
From Creative Juice
One Juice Funds recipient, pro Rubik’s Cuber and triathlete Simon Shi (733K), tells Tubefilter Juice Funds helped him feel “peace of mind” for the first time in his content career.
“The upfront capital really gave me peace of mind,” he says. “I don’t have the funds to comfortably live yet, but I’m currently working on that, and having [Juice Funds] helps me kickstart the business side, whether I want to get a Patreon going, hire an editor, or start outsourcing and being more businesslike.”
Shi, who’s training more than 30 hours a week right now for his next triathlon, ended up using funding to hire an editor to help increase his content output “since I was slammed for time,” he says.
He also started developing more channels, and started dubbing his existing English videos in other languages. He ran five channels when we spoke in February, and has since added two Spanish-language channels, a move he said was inspired by MrBeast’s multilanguage content strategy.
“I looked at my analytics from my U.S. channel, and it’s mainly U.S. and United Kingdom, but there are also Spanish-speaking countries, and India, with Hindi, which is another option I’m also looking at,” he says.
Creative Juice says that while Juice Funds are often used for immediate expenses like upgrading equipment and hiring editors, it’s also seeing creators “use the funds to carry out a longer-term vision such as launching a podcast or merch line.”
And, like those recipient creators, Creative Juice has an eye on the future.
“We’ve invested millions to support creator careers and have a $50M fund to continue to grow the creator economy,” Dustin Blank, Creative Juice’s head of creator partnerships & investments, tells Tubefilter. “We’re committed to building our Juice community, providing resources and investing in hundreds more creators.”
