GGWP Academy has raised $1.125 million in funding to change the way influencer marketing is handled in games and esports.

GGWP Academy is an e-learning platform that helps gamers earn and learn, with over 50 global brands leveraging top talent. And now we are entering the US market.

Founded by Jacqueline Garrett in Melbourne, Australia, the company offers content creators and streamers the opportunity to invest in their future with equity crowdfunding campaigns.

“We teach content creators how to be best-in-class content creators, and we give them the opportunity to work with brands around the world. Encer equates to a high ROI for the brands that engage them,” Garrett said in an interview with GamesBeat. “There are a lot of influencers and content creators who got there by being lucky or being there in the first place or working with the right people, but they are professionally growing brands and engaging audiences. , didn’t necessarily know how to deliver his ROI on marketing campaigns.”

The company will run a campaign on Equitise throughout September, offering over 11,000 existing users the opportunity to become both monetizers and owners of the platform.

Investors include the family of Adidas founder Adi Dassler, Flying Fox Ventures, Scale Investors, Euphemia, and leAD Sports and Startmate accelerators. Garrett founded his company in 2018, supporting his son Max, who was nine years old at the time. Max was Australia’s youngest esports pro and his content creator on YouTube.

After Max competed in three world championships, appeared on national television, signed with two professional esports teams, and landed a $15,000 brand deal in his first year as a creator, his mother decided to become a creator. I knew how fragmented the ecosystem was and set out to change that.

Since its launch, GGWP Academy has taken off, teaching thousands of global influencers how to become best-in-class content creators, giving them the opportunity to work with the world’s biggest brands. GGWP Academy has won deals with brands such as Electronic Arts, Logitech, Casio, Cheezels, Indomie, Pushas and 2K.

Now, the company is expanding to the US with the launch of the GGWP Academy automated marketplace. We believe this will help thousands of creators build a following and monetize their content through his sponsorships of matched brands.

The global influencer marketing industry is projected to reach $16.4 billion in 2022, yet top brands still struggle to find the right influencer talent for their campaigns, measure the return on investment of their marketing efforts, and save tax dollars. and struggling to manage payments.

Garrett believes GGWP Academy’s technology will be a game changer for both sides of the market, identifying and connecting emerging micro and macro influencers with brands to achieve the highest ROI.
We also offer vetted training curricula, built-in creator mentorships, unique matchmaking technology, and branded dashboards with custom features such as automated post-campaign reports.

Key stats

The company is already used by over 11,000 creators and 50 brands worldwide. According to Garrett, 83% of creators use more training videos to win more brand deals and provide a low-cost user acquisition channel for growth.

Cassie Puah, Chief Marketing Officer, GGWP Academy, said: “Since smaller creators have little online visibility, we have leveled the playing field and created educational pathways for sponsorship and opportunities that lead to full-time careers in the creator economy.”

Finding the right influencers is cited as a challenge for 73% of brands. This is followed by attribution, or knowing whether an influencer is making money. GGWP’s matchmaking and reporting engine identifies the right influencers for each brand and
Return on investment for each campaign.

The timing is good, as the gaming industry has seen a huge increase in creators since the pandemic
strike. This category saw 30% growth in accounts created between 2020 and 2021. As more creators enter the market, the micro-influencer has grown to 91% of all content in the market his creators, offering an opportunity to serve 77% of brands.I want to work with micro-influencers

Influencer Warship said: tv set. “Because of this, I was looking for opportunities to grow and gain exposure. With all or little success. One of my moderators found GGWP. It was the first brand deal since then.”

Influencers earn XP on the platform based on the amount of educational videos they consume on the platform.Content creators can also educate themselves on how to band together. About 60% of users are already in the US

Much work is still manual. The goal is to enable crowdfunding and automate more matchmaking. It takes about 5-6 weeks to find a match.

“You can negotiate, pay, measure, and all post-campaign reporting will be transparent through the platform, which is not available at this time,” said Garrett. “There are so many great brands that want to be part of this space.”

The team has about half a dozen people, most of them in Sydney.

“We work with small creators. We’re very interested in the remaining 99%. We’re not interested in the top 1%,” Garrett said. “I want to work with someone who has 2,000 followers”

Garrett said success or failure depends on the personal and mental health of the streamer, how long they have been striving for success, and what actions they take.

“Before us, it took five to seven years to build a monetizable personal brand,” says Garrett. “A year or two and he wants to be monetized.”

Garrett’s own son’s career as a streamer was interrupted by the pandemic.