Money moves: Melius, Round and Affinity Labs raise

Three creator-adjacent companies announced funding in the first half of October, each betting on a different part of the stack.

Melius, an AI platform for generating ad campaigns, images and video, raised $25 million in total: a $20 million Series A led by CRV and a $5 million seed led by General Catalyst, TechCrunch reported on October 6. Melius says it hit more than $1 million in annualized revenue within two months of leaving stealth in July. Its founders, former Ramp engineers, scrapped their first product, a performance-marketing tool, to build what they call an "agents lab for creative work." Vercel CEO Guillermo Rauch is among the angels.

Round, a London-based tech-enabled agency that runs short-form social campaigns for music, entertainment and consumer brands, raised £4 million in growth equity from Foresight Group, announced October 14. Its platform handles campaign design, creator payments and analytics, with access to a database of more than 100,000 creators. The money funds expansion into the U.S. and APAC, and former Great Bowery CEO Liz Sands joins as non-executive chair.

Affinity Labs, also in London, raised $2 million in pre-seed funding led by Fuel Ventures with Antler, plus a £497,787 Innovate UK grant, Tech.eu reported on October 14. It co-founds software products with creators, pairing their audiences with its AI product-development tools. It has launched four creator-led brands so far, plans its first products with U.S. creators in late 2026, and targets more than 200 creator-led software brands by 2030.

Why it matters: investors are funding the creator economy's plumbing (campaign ops, creative production) and creator equity models. Affinity Labs-style co-founding deals are a new option for creators who want ownership instead of a flat sponsorship fee.