Later is an influencer marketing and social media management platform serving brands and creators.

Later was founded by Lyle Stevens, Cindy C. Chen in 2014.

Who are Later's investors?

Later's investors include GrandBanks Capital, Prime Ventures, Resolute Ventures, Rocketship.vc, Summit Partners, Aspect Ventures.

Later

Founded 2014 · 2,093 employees on LinkedIn · 6 known investors

Later is a platform for influencer marketing, social media management, and creator commerce that helps brands plan content, run campaigns, and track performance alongside creators.

Also known as Later.com

AI & Machine Learning Creator Economy Marketing Tech SaaS

Founders & leadership

Later was founded in 2014 by Lyle Stevens and Cindy C. Chen.

Lyle StevensinCo-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer

Cindy C. CheninFounder

Scott SuttonChief Executive Officer

Investors · 6

GrandBanks CapitalNeedham

Prime VenturesAmsterdam · $5.4M – $16.2M

Resolute VenturesSan Francisco · $1M

Rocketship.vcSunnyvale · $1M – $5M

Summit PartnersBoston · $10M – $500M

Aspect VenturesreportedPalo Alto

Company profile

researched Aug 2026

Later operates a platform that combines influencer marketing, social media management, and creator monetization. Its influencer marketing software helps brands find creators, set creator rates, assess brand fit and risk, and track sales and return on investment. Its social media management tools let users plan, schedule, and analyze content across platforms, with content creation tools and a Link in Bio product that converts posts into traffic and trackable transactions.

Alongside self-serve software, Later offers full-service programs in which its own team plans, produces, and manages creator campaigns, including strategy, creator sourcing and management, amplification of top-performing content, and performance tracking and optimization. For creators, Later provides an earnings path through Mavely, which supports shoppable links, brand collaborations, and payouts.

The company markets an AI capability branded Later EdgeAI, which draws on creator behavior, trend signals, and purchase data to inform campaign planning. Published platform figures include more than 20 million creators analyzed across platforms, 136 billion annual impressions from scheduled social posts, more than 1 billion Link in Bio transactions tracked, and more than $2 billion in verified influencer-driven purchases.

Business model

Later sells software for influencer marketing and social media management to brands, and also delivers managed, full-service creator campaign programs staffed by its own experts. On the creator side, it operates Mavely, through which creators generate income from shoppable links tied to brand partnerships.

Revenue is derived from its influencer marketing and social media management software offerings and from full-service managed campaign programs; creator-side monetization runs through Mavely's shoppable link and payout system.

Traction

The company reports more than 20 million creators analyzed across platforms, 136 billion annual impressions from scheduled social posts, more than 1 billion Link in Bio transactions tracked, and more than $2 billion in verified influencer-driven purchases. Customer case studies cite campaign results including 46.7 million total campaign impressions with a 2.2% average engagement rate for El Pollo Loco, 39.7 million impressions and $1.2 million in earned media value for Crumbl, 10.5 million impressions and 186,000 engagements for Habit Burger & Grill, 1.4 million impressions with a 7.5% average engagement rate for At Home, and 1.2 million organic impressions with a 19% purchase rate for Tapatio, where the brand reported Shopify sales surpassing Amazon for the first time.

▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market

Market position

Later positions itself as an influencer marketing platform differentiated by campaign, creator, social, and purchase intelligence, contrasting its data-driven approach with competitors it characterizes as relying on guesswork.

Technology

The platform includes creator discovery and vetting (brand fit and risk checks), rate setting, campaign sales and ROI tracking, content scheduling and analytics, Link in Bio link management with transaction tracking, and Later EdgeAI, which analyzes creator behavior, trending topics, and purchase data to guide campaign decisions.

Go-to-market

Later markets directly through its website with self-serve campaign start and creator sign-up paths, publishes case studies with named brand customers, and produces content marketing such as blog posts, industry reports (for example a 2025 State of Influencer Marketing report and creator economy predictions), and live expert sessions.

Brands and marketing teams running influencer and social media campaigns — including restaurant, food, and consumer retail brands such as At Home, El Pollo Loco, Crumbl, Tapatio, and Habit Burger & Grill — as well as individual content creators seeking to monetize their content.

Compiled by commissioned research from 1 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.

Key figures

latest reported

Annual impressions from scheduled social postsJan 2025136,000,000,000 impressions

Creators analyzed across platformsJan 202520,000,000 creators

Link in Bio transactions trackedJan 20251,000,000,000 transactions

Verified influencer-driven purchasesJan 2025$2B

Company-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.

Competitors · 5

by search overlap

Hootsuite17307 shared keywordsHootsuite is a social media management platform that helps organizations manage, analyze, and optimize their social media presence across multiple networks. The company serves businesses of all sizes, from small companies to enterprises, providing tools for social marketing, listening, employee advocacy, and customer service.

Buffer14300 shared keywordsBuffer is a social media management platform for scheduling, creating, and publishing content across networks like Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook, and X, with community engagement and analytics tools. It serves creators, small businesses, freelancers, and agencies and includes an AI assistant for content creation.

Sprout Social13191 shared keywordsSprout Social offers a social media management platform with AI, automation, integrations and analytics tools for marketing teams. The product helps teams manage social content, customer interactions, workflows and performance reporting from a single platform.

Metricool7690 shared keywordsMetricool is a social media management and analytics tool that helps professionals schedule content, measure performance, and manage their presence across social platforms. It serves content creators, marketers, and businesses managing multiple social media accounts.

Dash Social6370 shared keywordsDash Social provides an AI-powered social media management platform for organic, influencer, and paid marketing, covering planning, publishing, community management, and analytics. It also offers creator discovery and management tools plus social commerce features like UGC galleries and link-in-bio for brands.

Companies competing with Later for the same Google search keywords, organic and paid, via search-intersection analysis.

▸Research sources · 1

primary sources listed

Laterlater.com · web

1 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.

Frequently asked questions

What does Later do?: Later is an influencer marketing and social media management platform serving brands and creators.
Who founded Later?: Later was founded by Lyle Stevens, Cindy C. Chen in 2014.
Who are Later's investors?: Later's investors include GrandBanks Capital, Prime Ventures, Resolute Ventures, Rocketship.vc, Summit Partners, Aspect Ventures.