Social Media Marketing Platform Popular Pays Picks Up $5.5M Series B

Social media marketing platform Popular Pays has raised a $5.5 million Series B led by Beringea. Other investors included GoAhead Ventures and Hyde Park Angels.

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Founded in 2013 out of Chicago, the company participated in the Winter 2015 Y Combinator cohort. Its latest round brings Popular Pay’s total capital raised to $11.5 million, according to the company.

Nicknamed “Pop Pays,” the company was founded with the intent to connect brands to social media influencers. Though it does still help brands connect with influencers, Popular Pays has since refocused. It now helps brands better advertise to their target consumer audiences on social media by connecting them with content creators for social media marketing campaigns.

Using the Popular Pays software, brands create a social media campaign brief with specifications. Creators then apply to produce content for the campaign. The brand them browses and picks creators with portfolios that meet its requirements. Once the creators have finished the project, brands can review the final product and communicate with creators. Once the campaign is live, brands can view progress reports that detail the engagement metrics of each post.

Since its founding, Popular Pays has expanded beyond Chicago with offices in New York and Los Angeles, and, according to its press release, it has grown from 23 to 40 employees since its 2017 Series A. The product has attracted well-known companies such as Macy’s, Coca Cola, and Amazon.

The company has also secured partnerships with key social media platforms. Popular Pay has partnered with Pinterest, powering the company’s Pin Collective project, which connects brands to creators on the platform. The company is also a Facebook Marketing Partner in Creative Platforms, per its website.

Popular Pays will be using its fresh capital to scale its sales and product development efforts, per its press release.