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At VidCon, Investors Are Still ‘Betting Big’ on the Creator Economy
Kristin Snyder
Kristin Snyder is dot.LA's 2022/23 Editorial Fellow. She previously interned with Tiger Oak Media and led the arts section for UCLA's Daily Bruin.
The creator economy is the bedrock of this week’s VidCon convention, which is drawing creators, companies, investors and fans alike to Anaheim to discuss the rapidly growing realm of digital content and entertainment.
To discuss how investors, in particular, are viewing the booming creator landscape, Thursday’s “Betting Big on the Creator Economy” panel featured the likes of MaC Venture Capital partner Zhenni Liu, Investcorp managing director Anand Radhakrishnan, Team8 Fintech managing partner Yuval Tal and Paladin co-founder and CEO James Creech.
Liu said that her Los Angeles-based VC firm is paying closer attention to the influence that creators are having on how consumers spend their time and money. She cited the recent “healthy Coke” viral trend, in which people mix balsamic vinegar and seltzer water as a soda alternative, as an example—citing how the number of people who have viewed the original TikTok video that set off the craze surpasses the Coca-Cola TikTok account’s number of followers.
This growing influence stems from the surging number of creators, Radhakrishnan said. With the pandemic forcing many to reconsider their career paths, he said people now view content creation as a legitimate professional route—quipping that these days, more children want to be YouTube stars than astronauts.
“As an older person, I thought this was the downfall of Western civilization,” the Investcorp managing director said. “At the end of the day, I think it reflects that this is real—and as an investor, we’re looking at ways to invest in the next great economies.”
Creech said that the growing creator sector rests on three main pillars: content creation, audience growth and monetization. The constant evolution of creator platforms does present a challenge for investors, however, with Liu noting that more creators are looking to Web3 as an alternative to traditional outlets often offering a smaller slice of revenues.
“As a result, we’re seeing creators who can’t figure out how to build their audience, monetize and distribute,” Liu said. “With Web3, this opens up a new opportunity. There's a lot of chaos, but chaos provides the opportunity for creators to rise up.”
Additionally, the shift toward short-form content means that more investment dollars will be redirected away from longer-form shows and films, Tal observed. And even with an increasingly likely recession on the horizon—one that already appears to be hitting the creator economy, as well as the wider tech, startup and venture capital sectors—Tal and the other panelists remained optimistic about the creator economy’s prospects moving forward.
“It is almost winter-agnostic,” Tal said. “The shift [toward the creator economy] is so massive that no [economic] winter can slow it down.”
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Kristin Snyder
Kristin Snyder is dot.LA's 2022/23 Editorial Fellow. She previously interned with Tiger Oak Media and led the arts section for UCLA's Daily Bruin.
https://twitter.com/ksnyder_db
Why Scrubs Maker FIGS is Being Sued in California Court
10:59 AM | October 19, 2022
'We've Branded an Unbranded Industry': FIGS Co-CEOs Trina Spear and Heather Hasson on Their Epic IPO
Last August, FIGS, the medical scrub startup based in Santa Monica, was sued for false advertising and misleading business practices. This week, the company is in court arguing it didn’t need to rely on any unsavory marketing tactics and that its products sold more because they were better than its competitors.
The lawsuit, brought forth by Strategic Partners Inc. (SPI), a Chatsworth-based competitor that does business as Careismatic Brands, alleges FIGS co-founders Trina Spear and Heather Hasson violated advertising regulations by falsely claiming their scrubs are made to protect the wearer from bacteria or disease through the use of a chemical called Silvadur. In the lawsuit SPI cited the fact that FIGS said this chemical helps its scrubs reduce hospital-acquired infection rates by 66%, which SPI claimed was untrue and misleading.
The exact amount of money SPI is seeking from the suit isn’t clear. But the company did request numerous damages, including the costs of the suit and attorneys’ fees. SPI also asked for compensatory damages plus punitive damages and disgorgement of profits, which means the court could order FIGS to pay back part of the money it made selling its scrubs if the judge rules against them.
“What [FIGS] did is they came up with these false claims so that health care workers would pay premium pricing based on something that didn't exist,” said Sanford Michelman, attorney for SPI. He also said the company “is a get rich quick scheme.”
Unlike FIGS' direct to consumer model, SPI sells through a middleman, licensing out brands to mainly brick and mortar retailers.
Michelman claimed SPI has sources that used to work for FIGS that will testify FIGS’ 66% infection prevention claim wasn’t accurate, including a former stock boy and an infectious disease expert.
A FIGS spokesperson who was in court Tuesday said, however, he anticipated SPI will need to prove specifically that FIGS’ sales increased because of its allegedly misleading marketing, which could be a difficult task for the plaintiffs.
The suit also called into question other elements of FIGS’ business practices, including the company’s promise to donate “hundreds of thousands of scrubs internationally'' as part of its Threads for Threads program. Per the publication of the company’s first video ad for it, the program appears to have been set up in 2013 to donate one pair for every pair sold: The lawsuit alleged, “these misrepresentations regarding donations are part of FIGS’s broader plan to deceive the public into believing that FIGS and FIGS scrubs are special, when they are not special.”
During opening statements, law firms Bird Marella and Munger, Tolles, & Olson argued on behalf of FIGS that SPI uses a similar chemical in its medical clothing.
Back in 2021, FIGS created an entire website to explain its side of the story. On the site, the medical clothing startup called the lawsuit “baseless attacks” from an older competitor that’s simply angry it lost market share to a new upstart and wants to “thwart competition.”
To that end, FIGS’ chief legal officer said the lawsuit was an attempt by SPI to “stifle” competition and drive it out of the market. He called the litigation “absurd” and said it won’t hold up in court.
This is a developing story. Have a tip? Contact Samson Amore securely via Signal at 401.287.5543 or Samsonamore@dot.LA.
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Samson Amore
Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.
https://twitter.com/samsonamore
samsonamore@dot.la
Here's How To Get a Digital License Plate In California
03:49 PM | October 14, 2022
Photo by Clayton Cardinalli on Unsplash
Thanks to a new bill passed on October 5, California drivers now have the choice to chuck their traditional metal license plates and replace them with digital ones.
The plates are referred to as “Rplate” and were developed by Sacramento-based Reviver. A news release on Reviver’s website that accompanied the bill’s passage states that there are “two device options enabling vehicle owners to connect their vehicle with a suite of services including in-app registration renewal, visual personalization, vehicle location services and security features such as easily reporting a vehicle as stolen.”
Reviver Auto Current and Future CapabilitiesFrom Youtube
There are wired (connected to and powered by a vehicle’s electrical system) and battery-powered options, and drivers can choose to pay for their plates monthly or annually. Four-year agreements for battery-powered plates begin at $19.95 a month or $215.40 yearly. Commercial vehicles will pay $275.40 each year for wired plates. A two-year agreement for wired plates costs $24.95 per month. Drivers can choose to install their plates, but on its website, Reviver offers professional installation for $150.
A pilot digital plate program was launched in 2018, and according to the Los Angeles Times, there were 175,000 participants. The new bill ensures all 27 million California drivers can elect to get a digital plate of their own.
California is the third state after Arizona and Michigan to offer digital plates to all drivers, while Texas currently only provides the digital option for commercial vehicles. In July 2022, Deseret News reported that Colorado might also offer the option. They have several advantages over the classic metal plates as well—as the L.A. Times notes, digital plates will streamline registration renewals and reduce time spent at the DMV. They also have light and dark modes, according to Reviver’s website. Thanks to an accompanying app, they act as additional vehicle security, alerting drivers to unexpected vehicle movements and providing a method to report stolen vehicles.
As part of the new digital plate program, Reviver touts its products’ connectivity, stating that in addition to Bluetooth capabilities, digital plates have “national 5G network connectivity and stability.” But don’t worry—the same plates purportedly protect owner privacy with cloud support and encrypted software updates.
5 Reasons to avoid the digital license plate | Ride TechFrom Youtube
After the Rplate pilot program was announced four years ago, some raised questions about just how good an idea digital plates might be. Reviver and others who support switching to digital emphasize personalization, efficient DMV operations and connectivity. However, a 2018 post published by Sophos’s Naked Security blog pointed out that “the plates could be as susceptible to hacking as other wireless and IoT technologies,” noting that everyday “objects – things like kettles, TVs, and baby monitors – are getting connected to the internet with elementary security flaws still in place.”
To that end, a May 2018 syndicated New York Times news service article about digital plates quoted the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which warned that such a device could be a “‘honeypot of data,’ recording the drivers’ trips to the grocery store, or to a protest, or to an abortion clinic.”
For now, Rplates are another option in addition to old-fashioned metal, and many are likely to opt out due to cost alone. If you decide to go the digital route, however, it helps if you know what you could be getting yourself into.
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Steve Huff
Steve Huff is an Editor and Reporter at dot.LA. Steve was previously managing editor for The Metaverse Post and before that deputy digital editor for Maxim magazine. He has written for Inside Hook, Observer and New York Mag. Steve is the author of two official tie-ins books for AMC’s hit “Breaking Bad” prequel, “Better Call Saul.” He’s also a classically-trained tenor and has performed with opera companies and orchestras all over the Eastern U.S. He lives in the greater Boston metro area with his wife, educator Dr. Dana Huff.
steve@dot.la
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