Passes raised $40M in Series A funding led by Bond Capital, with participation from Abstract Ventures, Crossbeam Ventures, Skims cofounders Emma and Jens Grede, and others in February 2024.

The company announced a $9M seed round in July 2023 led by Multicoin Capital, with participation from Paris Hilton’s 11:11 Media, Jake Paul’s Anti Fund, and Eventbrite co-founder Kevin Hartz.

Total funding raised to date is $49M.

Passes was founded in 2022 by Lucy Guo, a departed co-founder of Scale AI, who launched the platform by leveraging connections with Miami-based entertainment agencies to seed its early creator base.

Passes found product-market fit as a safe-for-work membership platform for Instagram fitness influencers and chess personalities who wanted to monetize their followings through exclusive content and direct fan engagement without the pressure to create explicit material.

The platform enables creators to offer different tiers of membership access to their fans, with features like direct messaging, live streams, and exclusive content. A creator can set up multiple subscription tiers, customize what content is available in each tier, and interact with their paying subscribers through various engagement tools. For example, a fitness influencer might offer a basic tier with workout videos and a premium tier that includes personalized coaching calls.

The product includes built-in screenshot digital rights management (DRM) to prevent content leaks, while also providing creators with tools to manage their subscriber base and track engagement. Creators can host live streams for their subscribers, sell access to exclusive events, and maintain ongoing conversations with their most dedicated fans through the platform's messaging features.

Passes lets creators sell memberships, exclusive content, paid messages, calls, and livestream access. It earns a share of fan transactions rather than simply charging creators for a software subscription. Sacra’s March 2024 research described a 10% take rate plus $0.30 per transaction, compared with OnlyFans’ 20%; Passes’ current materials continue to advertise a 10% platform fee.

The platform differentiates itself by focusing on "soft R" content - allowing risqué photos and implied nudity but banning explicit adult content. This strategic positioning between family-friendly platforms like Fanhouse and adult-oriented OnlyFans helps Passes qualify as a lower-risk merchant with payment processors, reducing transaction costs while still capturing high-intent fans willing to pay for exclusive access to creators.

Passes drives growth through a referral program and by guaranteeing minimum earnings to prominent creators like Blac Chyna to incentivize platform adoption. The platform provides creators with built-in screenshot DRM to prevent content leaks and CRM tools to help creators identify and engage their highest-value fans. Additional revenue streams include video calls, paid direct messages, and livestreaming features that creators can monetize through their monthly subscription tiers.

The company's target market includes Instagram fitness influencers, chess personalities, and other creators with engaged followings seeking brand-safe ways to monetize their audiences through exclusive content and direct fan engagement.

Passes competes directly with OnlyFans, Patreon, and Fanfix for paid creator memberships and fan engagement. It also overlaps with Stan and Beacons when creators sell digital products and services. The key distinctions are content rules, platform fees, creator acquisition, and the tools available for recurring interaction with paying fans.

OnlyFans dominates this category with $1.3B in 2023 revenue and a 20% take rate. While Passes allows risqué content without nudity, OnlyFans permits explicit content but faces higher payment processing costs and regulatory scrutiny. Fansly has gained traction by offering better discovery features for smaller creators.

Passes acquired Fanhouse in 2023, incorporating a former safe-for-work membership competitor. Stan remains an alternative for mainstream creators selling knowledge products and services. Stan charges $29/month with no take rate, reaching $27M ARR in March 2024 with 55,697 customers. Patreon serves a broader creator base with tiered pricing and a 5-12% take rate, though they've loosened content restrictions since 2017.

Linktree leads this category with $49M ARR and 340,000 customers at a $144 ARPC, focusing on basic link management and minimal monetization features. Beacons and Stan have expanded into this space by bundling features like email, scheduling, and payments. The trend toward all-in-one platforms has companies like Beehiiv and ConvertKit launching ad networks while link-in-bio tools add membership and payment capabilities.

Passes’ lower advertised fee can appeal to creators with large paying audiences, while subscription tools that charge a fixed monthly price can be more economical for creators as sales scale. Passes therefore needs its messaging, live interaction, and creator support to justify an ongoing share of fan spending.

Passes has tailwinds from the creator economy's continued growth and increasing demand for brand-safe monetization platforms, with opportunities to expand into enterprise community management and professional networking markets.

The creator middle class continues to expand rapidly, with an estimated 200M+ creators globally seeking ways to monetize their expertise and audience relationships. Passes's positioning as a "soft R" platform—allowing risqué content while banning nudity—gives them access to mainstream creators who want to monetize their sex appeal without the stigma of explicit adult content. Their 10% take rate (vs OnlyFans' 20%) and built-in DRM for preventing content leaks makes them particularly attractive to creators burned out from content leaks and pressure to create explicit material.

Passes can grow upmarket by developing enterprise-grade features for larger creators and brands. By enhancing their analytics, moderation tools, and API capabilities, they could attract bigger clients with more complex needs and higher budgets. This would increase average revenue per customer while opening up a larger total addressable market in corporate community management.

As remote work becomes more prevalent, there's growing demand for private online spaces that facilitate professional networking and collaboration. Passes could expand into this market by developing features specifically for professional communities, such as mentorship matching and skill-sharing marketplaces. This would position them to compete with LinkedIn Groups but with stronger privacy controls and direct monetization tools that appeal to high-value professional networks and industry associations looking for alternatives to public social media.

Platform dependency risk: Passes relies heavily on Instagram for creator acquisition and monetization, with 38% of GMV coming from Instagram creators. If Instagram builds out native monetization features or restricts access to its platform, Passes could see significant disruption to its growth and revenue. While the company has diversified away from its initial TikTok focus, platform risk remains concentrated.

Guaranteed creator earnings: Passes's strategy of paying prominent creators like Blac Chyna to switch platforms creates significant downside risk. Sacra's March 2024 research described Blac Chyna's engagement at roughly 3% of the platform's top creators. Similar guaranteed contracts led Substack to report negative revenue despite strong top-line growth. This approach could strain finances if creator performance doesn't justify the guarantees.

Content moderation: Passes’ restriction on nudity does not remove the need to enforce rules across private messages, exclusive content, and livestreams. Failures to moderate prohibited material can expose the platform to payment processor restrictions, loss of creator trust, and reputational damage. Its positioning as a mainstream monetization platform makes enforcement part of maintaining access to both creators and payment infrastructure.