According to TechCrunch, Agentio has raised $40 million in a Series B round led by Forerunner Ventures, bringing its total funding to $56 million and valuing the company at $340 million. The startup, founded in 2023 by former Cameo president Arthur Leopold and ex-Spotify engineer Jonathan Meyers, connects brands with YouTube creators for sponsored content. This comes as sponsored YouTube videos grew 54% year-over-year in early 2025, with views up 28% according to Tubefilter data. Since its last round in November 2024, Agentio has grown fivefold and now employs 35 people, with plans to exceed 100 next year. The platform claims brands like Bombas saw 5.3x better return on ad spend and 90% net new customer rates compared to other video platforms.
The creator gold rush
Here’s the thing – everyone’s chasing the creator economy right now. When you see numbers like sponsored videos growing 54% year-over-year, it’s clear why VCs are throwing money at this space. Agentio’s basically positioning itself as the AI-powered matchmaker between brands who want authentic content and creators who want to get paid. And they’ve got some impressive metrics – creators doubling their brand partnership earnings within six months? That’s the kind of growth story investors dream about.
The AI matchmaking reality
But let’s talk about the AI angle. Agentio’s using “reasoning models and multimodal understanding” to match brands with creators and even review content drafts. That sounds great in theory – brands don’t need humans watching every video anymore. But here’s my question: how many brands are actually comfortable letting algorithms make these judgment calls? We’ve seen AI content moderation fail spectacularly before. And when you’re dealing with brand safety, one bad match could cost millions in reputation damage.
The platform expansion gamble
Now they’re expanding beyond YouTube to Meta platforms, with TikTok and Snap coming in 2026. This is where it gets tricky. Each platform has completely different content dynamics, audience behaviors, and creator ecosystems. YouTube’s sponsorship culture is mature, but Instagram’s partnership ads are still finding their footing. Scaling across multiple platforms while maintaining quality matches? That’s a massive technical and operational challenge. And they’re doing this while planning to triple their headcount next year. Rapid hiring plus platform expansion – what could possibly go wrong?
The bigger picture
Look, the trend is real – creator ad revenue might actually overtake traditional media this year. But Agentio’s playing in a crowded space where the platform owners themselves (Google, Meta, TikTok) are building their own creator tools. When you’re dependent on platforms that could eventually compete with you, that’s always a risky position. The $340 million valuation assumes they can maintain this growth while fending off both competitors and platform risks. I’m skeptical, but the numbers so far suggest they’ve found something that works – at least for now.
