Kit.co
Curated product recommendations platform for online creators.
| Date | Investors | Amount | Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| investor investor investor investor investor investor | €0.0 | round | |
N/A | - | ||
| Total Funding | 000k | ||
Kit.co is a platform that enables creators, such as YouTubers, bloggers, and influencers, to curate and share lists of their favorite products and services. The company was founded in the spring of 2015 by Camille Hearst and Naveen Selvadurai, with founding engineer Will Chiong also involved. Hearst, who served as CEO, brought experience from roles at Apple, Google, and YouTube, while Selvadurai was a co-founder of Foursquare. They aimed to solve a problem for both creators who were frequently asked for recommendations and consumers looking for trusted products.
The company launched publicly in the fall of 2015 after being backed by the startup incubator Expa. In November 2016, Kit announced a $2.5 million seed funding round from investors including Social Capital, Precursor Ventures, and Authentic Ventures. The platform's business model is centered on affiliate marketing; creators can add their affiliate links from various programs, like Amazon Associates, and earn a commission when their followers make a purchase through their curated 'kits'. Kit.co itself does not take a cut of these earnings.
In June 2018, Patreon, a membership platform for creators, acquired Kit.co with the goal of integrating its features to offer merchandise solutions for Patreon's users. However, this integration did not fully materialize as envisioned. In September 2019, Patreon sold Kit to Geniuslink, a company specializing in link shortening and management for marketers. A notable event in the company's history was the forced migration from the Kit.com domain to Kit.co in late 2019, as the original founders had leased the .com domain and its new owners were not interested in selling. More recently, in June 2024, it was announced that Kit.co was acquired by Kit (formerly known as ConvertKit), a creator marketing platform, with the aim of expanding revenue stream opportunities for creators.
Keywords: creator economy, affiliate marketing, product recommendations, influencer marketing, curated shopping, social commerce, e-commerce platform, content creators, product discovery, monetization tools, creator tools, digital marketing, affiliate links, shoppable content, social media integration, product curation, YouTube creators, bloggers, influencer tools, online revenue