Marc Benioff Joins Investors Valuing Influencer Agency Whalar at $400M

With a roster of more than 300 social media stars nobody over 35 has ever heard of, influencer agency Whalar Group is a $400 million company.

That’s according to a new slew of investors, including Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and ecommerce giant Shopify, who joined Whalar’s latest fundraising round, announced Thursday, with said valuation. President Jo Cronk welcomed the two, as well as Fast & Furious franchise producer Neal Moritz, on the suddenly strangely cool social media network LinkedIn.

Under the Influencers

The idea of social media creators as pitch persons for products may once have been considered niche, but the creator economy is on track to be a $480 billion industry by 2027, according to Goldman Sachs. Brand deals make up about 70% of the revenue in the sector, a survey by the bank found. That’s where Whalar has excelled.

In its own carefully crafted marketing language, the company says its mission is to “liberate brands from meaningless marketing” (translation: get them to advertise with our clients) by creating “culturally relevant movements” (translation: paid advertising that goes viral across social networks with a well-crafted push from creators). None of which is to be dismissive:

• The company told Bloomberg News that it has paid out $300 million to its growing roster of TikTok, Instagram and YouTube influencers since it was founded in 2016. It also acquired UK creator talent agency Sixteenth last year.
• Whalar’s success is due partly to its use of campaigns that leverage the advantage of multiple creators under a single organizational umbrella: One got dozens of TikTok influencers in 17 markets to simultaneously promote a jingle written for Ikea, leading to its appearance in posts by thousands of other users. Another relied on British influencers to provide support for an advertising campaign by mocktail company J20 poking fun at “posh” upper-class mannerisms.

Skin Deep: Actually, Whalar has worked with talent that will be familiar to the over-35s, too: It previously collaborated with the OG influencer herself, Martha Stewart, on a TikTok campaign with skincare and makeup brand Clé de Peau Beauté in 2022.