Devotion launches with $4 million to automate influencer marketing

On Monday, the influencer marketing platform Devotion announced its launch alongside a $4 million funding round led by venture capital firms Basecase and Will Ventures. The startup was co-founded by Cami Tellez, who serves as creative director, and former TikTok executive Jon Kroopf. Tellez previously founded the undergarments brand Parade, which launched in 2019 and was sold in 2023. With Devotion, the co-founders are building software to help large brands run and manage their influencer programs. The platform automates parts of the influencer marketing process, using artificial intelligence to help brands scale their creator discovery, management, and content workflows.

The startup’s launch comes as the traditional influencer marketing model faces structural challenges. “The first version of the creator economy was built around macro creators, brands working with 15 or 20 highly visible faces each month. That model hasn’t worked,” Tellez said. This shift is driven by changes in social media algorithms. Five years ago, a creator’s post could reach about 20% of their audience; today, that reach has declined to closer to 2%. To counter this, Tellez argues that brands must transition to high-scale creator ecosystems that drive more scale, lower cost per mille (the cost per thousand impressions), and greater algorithmic impact. This challenge is compounded by low overall spending on creators; Tellez cited a 2025 report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (an industry trade group) showing that creators still account for about 2% of advertising spend.

To manage these larger networks of creators, Devotion’s platform uses AI to assist with tasks like analyzing posts for brand guidelines and calculating brand fit scores. While the platform automates parts of the influencer marketing process to scale discovery, management, and content workflows, the company maintains human oversight. Co-founder Jon Kroopf emphasized that all AI decisions remain subject to human review, noting that no independent AI agents operate without human intervention. Devotion has already secured more than 10 clients and reached seven figures in revenue, according to Tellez.

Why it matters

As algorithmic reach for individual creators declines, brands must shift from relying on a few “macro” influencers to managing high-volume, automated creator ecosystems to maintain impact.