Creator economy startups are tricky. It can be risky to ask creators to rely on a possibly precarious, pre-seed company to power an important aspect of their business -- if you fail, as most startups do, you might inadvertently end up hurting other independent entrepreneurs, which is (hopefully) the last thing a founder wants.

But some startups in the sector have had the opposite effect, making creative, online careers more attainable than ever. Platforms like OnlyFans and Patreon have helped creators earn a sustainable income, while Linktree managed to turn a chunk of Instagram real estate into a unicorn.

Y Combinator doesn't seem particularly interested in the creator economy, though. If you filter the list of Summer '22 companies for startups tagged "creator economy," it's not a very long list. Plus, for some of the companies listed, I wouldn't define them as creator companies (Taro seems useful for an aspiring software engineer, but a future product lead at Google isn't really in the same boat as a YouTube chef).

Regardless, a few companies stuck out in this batch as up-and-coming tools for fashion bloggers and Twitch streamers alike.

Tangia

What makes video game streaming different from just watching a generic playthrough? Viewers to interact live with their favorite streamers, watching how their commentary and input impacts their gameplay. Already on streaming sites, fans can pay to get a shout-out on stream, or to highlight comments to these creators. But Tangia is taking that idea to an even more interactive level.

Image Credits: Tangia

Right now, Tangia is compatible with the mega-popular sandbox game Minecraft. Viewers can purchase interactions within a streamer's Minecraft game -- for example, a fan might spend $8 to spawn a zombie horde to attack the player, while another fan might pay $10 to give the streamer an upgraded weapon.

This model would be near impossible to exist in games that aren't as customizable as Minecraft -- unless you're using some wild emulators, I don't think you could pay to spawn a shiny Pikachu in a streamer's Pokémon playthrough. But Minecraft is enough of a streaming cash cow that Tangia already has something special on its hands.