Octoly raises $10 million for its social media influencer marketplace

Social media influencer marketplace Octoly has raised $10 million from Havas Group, Otium Venture, Twin Partners, and EU’s Horizon 2020 SME Instrument.

The Octoly platform connects female social media influencers with beauty, fashion, and lifestyle brands looking for marketing opportunities where influencers browse products that they are willing to create content for. It has also launched OctoPrime.co, a product for influencers to build their own online stores.

The French company, with offices in New York, is now active in the US, France, Spain, Italy, and Germany. Brands using the platform include Dior and Sephora.

Octoly is the largest marketplace for influencers, said CEO Thomas Owadenko, which is “hitting a current trend of over 200,000 product reviews annually”.

“We have uniquely positioned ourselves in a rapidly evolving space and I truly see Octoly as the operating system for micro-influencers to grow and make a difference,” he added.

Influencer marketplaces have become much more common as startups, like Norway’s Inzpire.me and the UK's Takumi, attempt to take advantage of the still relatively new marketing method.

“We strongly believe that the value of Octoly is in its capacity to deliver unbiased reviews for brands. Authenticity is the cornerstone of influencer marketing which is now a billion-dollar industry,” said Yannick Bollore, CEO of Havas Group, the lead investor in the round.

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