More Investors Are Betting on Virtual Influencers Like Lil Miquela
Brud, the creator of virtual celebrity Lil Miquela, raises a new round pushing its valuation to at least $125 million.
Brud, the company behind the popular virtual celebrity Lil Miquela, reaches a valuation of at least $125 million after securing a new $20 to $30 million funding round led by Spark Capital. This latest investment follows a previous $6 million round from Sequoia Capital and BoxGroup, highlighting growing financial confidence in digital personas. With 1.5 million Instagram followers, Lil Miquela proves that computer-generated characters attract massive, highly engaged audiences.
New venture-backed startups like Shadows, SuperPlastic, and Toonstar are now entering the space to develop their own virtual characters for platforms like Snap and Instagram. Investors view this emerging industry as a completely new kind of studio system that operates independently of real human personalities. This approach offers brands a way to avoid the unpredictable behavior and scandals that often accompany real-world celebrities and influencers.
Betaworks partner Peter Rojas notes that the market experiences a major wave of these virtual entities throughout 2019 and 2020. The rapid growth of this sector serves as a massive test to see if modern audiences fully embrace AI-generated avatars as mainstream entertainment. Ultimately, this funding surge signals a significant shift in how digital content creation and influencer marketing evolve in the modern era.