How Noise Helps Everyday People Earn as Content Creators

Noise, a marketing platform designed to bridge the gap between brands and everyday content creators, has secured $5.5 million in seed funding. The round was led by Capital Midwest, M25, and Grishin Robotics, with additional participation from Capitalize VC and operators from companies like DoorDash. This latest investment brings the startup’s total capital raised to $7.2 million.

The company operates on a fundamentally different model than traditional influencer marketing agencies. Instead of relying on established personalities with massive followings, Noise allows anyone with a smartphone to join its network. Users can create content for brands across major social platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Rather than paying flat fees, brands compensate these creators based on views delivered. This approach significantly reduces costs for advertisers while providing a scalable solution for managing large-scale campaigns without the operational burden of sourcing individual talent or processing numerous payments.

Diego Kafie, Stu Feldt, and Nic Weber founded Noise in 2025 after spending two years developing a mobile game called Playbite. The platform now boasts a community of 1.5 million creators. The founders’ inspiration came directly from their experience scaling Playbite. They discovered that recruiting regular users to create social content was far more effective and affordable than hiring high-profile influencers.

“We tried a bunch of different creative marketing strategies,” Kafie said. “We started with five, ten, 25, then 100 people… Before we knew it, our installs were skyrocketing as this small army of people went to places like TikTok and posted engaging content daily about mobile games and our app specifically.”

This strategy proved that leveraging non-professional creators could drive growth at a fraction of the cost associated with traditional marketing playbooks. Had they relied on established figures with significant clout, the expenses would have been prohibitive for their startup budget. Today, many of Noise’s clients are mobile apps and startups looking to leverage influencer marketing within constrained budgets.

“Our top brands work with several thousand creators on autopilot,” he said.

The platform is entering a rapidly growing market. Recent data indicates that 57% of young people and slightly over 40% of U. S. adults express a desire to participate in the influencer economy. Noise competes with other infrastructure providers like Billo and JoinBrands, but distinguishes itself by focusing on democratizing access to content creation. The company takes a fee from the brand’s payment to the creator once views are verified. According to CEO Kafie, the platform’s highest-earning creators generate more than six figures annually.

To further enhance its value proposition, Noise recently launched its Organic-to-Ads program. This feature allows brands to take the organic videos created by their network and boost them as paid advertisements on Meta and TikTok.

“The creators still post to platforms,” he said. “But in addition, the brands can now put paid ads spend behind those creatives to reach more people.”

Kafie addressed concerns that this model might suppress creator earnings compared to independent deals. He clarified that brands set their own rates, and creators retain the autonomy to accept or reject campaigns. The platform specializes in training individuals who have never created branded content before. New users undergo specific training modules to learn how to produce effective brand material. As they complete more training and secure more work, they gain access to higher-paying opportunities.

“They are the most interested in reaching a really wide range of potential customers, making them the prime users for something like Noise, where they can easily recruit a small army of people to become their biggest users and advocates,” Kafie said. “This gives brands unprecedented level of content diversity and reach at a fraction of the cost of other traditional marketing playbooks.”

By lowering the barriers to entry, Noise aims to alleviate the stress and financial hurdles often associated with becoming an influencer. The fresh capital will be used to expand product capabilities and hire new team members.

“By democratizing ‘becoming a creator’ to literally anyone with a smartphone,” he said, “we’re bringing costs down for brands, but enabling millions of people to make their first dollar on the internet.”