Patreon has acquired a startup called Kit that will help the ‘talent’ sell their merch

Patreon acquired a merchandising logistics platform to further diversify their offerings and help make their creators more money.

According to Patreon’s VP of product, Wyatt Jenkins, “over 60% of today’s Patreon creators either want to or already deliver some kind of physical merchandise.” And, up until now, the creators have had to lick envelopes and tape boxes themselves.

Patreon has acquired a startup called Kit that will help the ‘talent’ sell their merch

That’s why yesterday, Patreon, the digital artist commune looking to put money in the hands of its “creators,” announced they are acquiring New York-based Kit, a startup that started in product reviews and has recently pivoted into merchandise logistics.

Let the creators ‘create,’ people!

With Kit, Patreon promises a “simple” automated merchandising solution that will keep the talent from folding graphic tees and keeping the books, so they can focus on… the craft.

Patreon first started working on their merch service last December and, according to TechCrunch, began talking with Kit around the same time the company was pivoting (which ultimately led to the acquisition).

Sounds like a match made in merch-table heaven

While the terms of the deal were not released, Jenkins told Crunchbase that both parties were “stoked.”

The company currently takes a 5% cut of whatever each creator makes (WAY better than YouTube’s 45%), but it’s unclear how Patreon will profit from the future merch sales. 

According to Jenkins, Patreon currently has 100k creators, supported by 2m individuals with paid memberships, and is on track to pay out $300m to its creators this year — that’s almost the total of what they have paid their creators in the first 5 years since they started.

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