PowerSpike

PowerSpike operates as a technology and media company centered on the gaming influencer market. The firm developed an analytics and sponsorship platform that connects brands with live-streaming personalities, primarily on the Twitch platform. Its business model is structured to streamline the activation of marketing sponsorships within gaming communities, acting as an intermediary that facilitates campaign execution. For brands and marketers, the platform provides tools to discover, manage, and communicate with influencers, while also offering analytics to measure campaign performance. For streamers, it serves as a marketplace to find and apply for paid sponsorship opportunities, providing a secure and reliable payment system for their content creation efforts.

The company was founded in 2015 by Angelo "AJ" Damiano, Michael Paris, and Eric Rice, who were students at Syracuse University at the time. The founders, themselves former livestreamers and avid gamers, identified a market need for a more consistent revenue generation model for content creators beyond fluctuating donations and ads. This firsthand experience of the difficulties in securing sponsorships directly fueled the creation of PowerSpike. Their journey began in a dorm room, initially bootstrapping the venture and funding early development through nearly $50,000 won in various business plan competitions.

PowerSpike's trajectory includes several key milestones, starting with a grant in 2017 and participation in the Techstars Atlanta accelerator program in 2018. This led to a seed funding round of $500,000 from investors including The Sixers Innovation Lab, Techstars, and Dorm Room Fund. The company's open beta launched in early 2017, attracting over 8,000 creators. By 2021, the founders were recognized on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Games. A significant turning point occurred in October 2022, when PowerSpike was acquired by Live Current Media in an all-stock transaction. At the time of the acquisition, the platform had hosted campaigns for major brands like Verizon, Intuit, and Sony Music and was generating millions in annual recurring revenue.

Keywords: influencer marketing, gaming sponsorships, Twitch marketing, esports advertising, livestream monetization, content creator platform, brand and influencer marketplace, creator economy, gaming analytics, sponsorship activation, media buying, live streaming analytics, influencer management, video game marketing, adtech, marketing tech