A creator who receives a collaboration offer today thinks about two numbers. How much they will be paid and when it has to be done. In the American market a third question is being added. How much of the company will be theirs. According to Digiday, negotiations are shifting from a one-off fee to equity, and infrastructure that can arrange it is already emerging around it.
A fee becomes an investment
The loudest early case is Alix Earle, who in 2024 joined the drinks brand Poppi as a strategic investor. Since then, the exception has been turning into a practice. The social fashion app Driptail brought in vetted creators as strategic investors and between March and July 2026 grew its user base sixtyfold. YouPop, which is building an AI operating system for creators, deliberately chose creators outside the biggest names for its cap table, because their own investment builds trust better than a star's name.
The difference from a classic collaboration is time. A fee ends when the video is delivered. Equity lasts, and its value depends on whether the company grows.
What percentage is given for what
Cherub has a concrete rate card. Its guideline for the seed stage works with three bands. For advice alone, 0.1 to 0.3 percent; for advice with services, 0.25 to 0.75 percent; and for a long-term creative role, 0.75 to 3 percent.
There are two routes. Angel investment, where the creator puts in their own money, is available to those who earn enough to have something to invest. Sweat equity, meaning a stake in exchange for work done, is open to a much wider group. It is the second option that turns equity into a tool within reach even of a creator without spare capital.
Infrastructure is emerging around equity
In September 2026, Cherub held a private summit for a hundred creators interested in angel investing. Its head, Jaclyn Johnson, described it as building the part of the business where creators, celebrities and their management connect with companies so that they end up „on the cap table from an investment perspective".
The agency JERi is building creator councils divided by category. Co-founder Ross Yellowlees sums it up with the line „Creators are no longer just creators; they're businesses", meaning businesses seeking predictable income. Kate McAndrew, partner at the Baukunst fund, adds that creators now earn enough to have something to invest and behave like sophisticated media companies.
It is the same movement we described in companies that build rights and distribution around creators and in platforms that turn a creator's future income into a tradable asset.
What this changes for brands
For the advertiser, the nature of the cost changes. A fee is a one-off line in the campaign budget. Equity is a commitment that stays with the company for years and shows up in every subsequent funding round. In return, the brand buys not just reach but the creator's interest in making sure the product works a year from now too.
There is also another side. A creator who holds equity stops being an independent voice on the product and becomes its co-owner. For the audience this is essential information, and for the creator a new kind of responsibility. That capital is flowing this way is also shown by larger offers, as Steven Bartlett and Authentic want to invest up to USD 400 million in creators.
For the European market, this is a preview
The cases and rate cards are so far American. But the logic will arrive here too, because it is driven by the same thing the European market is already experiencing. A creator with their own audience, traffic and data is, for a young brand, a faster route to the customer than buying media. Once a brand accepts this, a fee stops being the only currency it has at hand.
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