Limelight

What Limelight does

Limelight is a B2B creator partnership platform, legally organized as LimelightHQ Inc. and headquartered in Marina Del Rey, California. Founded in 2023, the company operates a two-sided marketplace that connects B2B brands with verified content creators and thought leaders, primarily on LinkedIn and adjacent professional channels. As of public materials, more than 500 B2B brands and over 10,000 creators are reportedly active on the platform. The core product is a creator collaboration platform that uses AI-powered matching, a proprietary database of B2B creators, and automated workflow tooling to eliminate roughly 90% of the manual effort involved in sourcing, outreach, contracting, content tracking, and payments. A complementary product, Social Signals, layers in AI-driven social listening to detect buyer intent across LinkedIn and route qualified leads into downstream sales and marketing workflows.

The company monetizes through tiered subscriptions sold to brand customers, with no platform fees charged to creators. Brand tiers include an entry-level Social Signals seat, a Premium tier intended for organizations spending at least $10,000 per month on creator partnerships, and an Enterprise tier with multi-year contracts, dedicated account management, expanded signal quotas, and CRM/analytics integrations. Distribution is hybrid: self-serve onboarding with a 7-day free trial sits alongside a sales-assisted enterprise motion for higher-tier deals. Strategic customers disclosed publicly include ZoomInfo, HubSpot, Clay, ActiveCampaign, Bill.com, 11x, SmartLead, Beehiiv, Delve, and Avoma, spanning enterprise, mid-market, and startup buyer profiles. Leadership is founder-led, with David Walsh as CEO and Youngjae Ji as CTO.

Limelight has raised approximately $3.2 million across disclosed funding rounds: a $1.1M pre-seed in April 2024 led by AltaIR Capital and Soma Capital, followed by a $2.1M seed in 2024 with participation from Ascend, Savyon, SNR, and other investors. The company is privately held and has pursued complementary growth vectors including the Safe Doesn't Scale podcast, integration partnerships with Salesforce, Slack, Outreach, Clay, Apollo, and LinkedIn, and the launch of the ALIGN professional services network in partnership with InnovAItion Partners.

Name

Limelight

Legal name

LimelightHQ Inc.

Website

https://limelighthq.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2023

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Limelight is a B2B creator partnership platform that uses AI-powered matching and automation to connect brands with verified LinkedIn thought leaders, serving 500+ B2B companies through tiered subscriptions while offering free access to 10,000+ creators.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Influencer Marketing Platform

NAICS

Software Publishers (513210)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

B2B Marketplaces & Wholesale Platforms (BPAMAGAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

B2B Demand Generation & Lead Nurture Agencies (BPAFAKAA)

Keywords

• B2B influencer marketing
• Creator partnership platform
• Influencer marketplace software
• B2B creator collaboration
• Social listening signals

Headquarters

HQ city

Marina Del Rey

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Platform Subscription (Brands): Tiered subscription model for brands accessing the influencer management platform. Three tiers: Social Signals Platform Access, Premium ($10k+ monthly spend expected), and Enterprise. Includes AI matching, creator management, social signals, and white-glove services depending on tier.
2. Creator Platform Access: Free platform access for B2B creators. Creators receive quality partnership inbound, collaborate with brands, and get paid through automated invoice and Stripe integrations. No commission or transaction fees for brands.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Limelight operates a B2B creator partnership platform that connects brands with a database of over 10,000 verified B2B creators and thought leaders. The platform provides AI-powered creator matching, automated outreach and booking, campaign management with contracts and payments via Stripe, real-time ROI analytics, and an AI-driven Social Signals product that monitors LinkedIn buyer intent and routes qualified leads to sales workflows.

Product overview

Limelight is a B2B creator partnership platform providing two core products: (1) the Limelight Platform for managing B2B creator collaborations including AI-powered creator matching, a database of verified B2B creators, campaign management, and analytics; and (2) Social Signals, an AI-powered social listening product that monitors buyer intent signals across LinkedIn and routes qualified leads to sales workflows. The platform connects brands with over 10,000+ B2B thought leaders and automates 90% of the partnership process from discovery through payment. Additional offerings include Social Listening Agents (AI research agents for lead qualification) and the Safe Doesn't Scale Podcast (educational content for growth leaders).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Limelight Platform End-to-end SaaS platform that enables B2B brands to discover, activate, and measure partnerships with verified B2B content creators. Includes AI-powered creator matching, a database of 10,000+ B2B creators, automated outreach, booking of ad slots across multiple creators, a creator storefront with rate cards, contracts, in-platform communication, Stripe-based payments, and real-time analytics for ROI attribution.
• Social Signals AI-driven social listening and intent signal product for sales, marketing, and revenue teams. Monitors 20+ signals including keyword post engagers, B2B influencer content engagers, social ad viewers, competitor activity, and silent profile viewers, then qualifies leads and routes them via CRM, Slack, outbound sequencers, and ad audience integrations.

Quantifiable outcome

• 71% of CMOs are increasing budget for B2B influencers in 2024
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers15 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration9 records

AI capability7 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• InnovAItion PartnerscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 5 March 2026Jointly launched the AI Leader Innovation Growth Network (ALIGN) on March 5, 2026 in New York. The network supports marketing and communications leaders in professional services firms implementing AI strategies, focusing on practical AI adoption, collaboration, and knowledge sharing among senior professionals in law, accounting, and consulting firms.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Upfluence: Upfluence is an influencer marketing platform with creator discovery, e-commerce integration, and affiliate/commission workflows. Comparable two-sided marketplace model with global creator coverage.
• Traackr: Traackr is a B2B-focused influencer marketing platform offering creator discovery, campaign management, and analytics for enterprise brands. It is the closest direct peer to Limelight's core B2B creator marketplace positioning.
• Klear: Klear offers influencer discovery, audience analytics, and campaign management tools with deep social listening. Comparable creator intelligence and analytics capabilities to Limelight's Social Signals.

Broad incumbents

• Aspire: Aspire is an influencer marketing platform with creator marketplace, workflow, and analytics capabilities for mid-market and enterprise brands. Comparable marketplace and workflow functionality to Limelight, though broader in vertical scope.
• Tagger (by Sprout Social): Tagger is an influencer marketing and social intelligence platform now part of Sprout Social, offering creator discovery, campaign management, and analytics. Comparable discovery/analytics functionality integrated into a broader social suite.
• CreatorIQ: CreatorIQ is an enterprise-grade influencer marketing platform with creator discovery, CRM, and analytics. It serves broader consumer and B2B use cases and is the most established incumbent in the category.
• Grin: Grin is an influencer marketing platform focused on creator relationship management, content, and ROI analytics, primarily serving DTC and consumer brands. Comparable platform architecture with a different end-market focus.

Emerging players

• Heepsy: Heepsy is a creator search and analytics tool with a large searchable database across platforms. Comparable creator discovery and filtering capabilities targeting smaller brands.
• Modash: Modash is a creator discovery and analytics platform with a large creator database and audience insights API. Comparable creator data and discovery offering, more developer-oriented.
• Phyllo: Phyllo is a Creator Data API platform enabling platforms and brands to access creator identity, content, and audience data. Comparable creator-data infrastructure underpinning Limelight's marketplace.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/limelighthq

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors9 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Limelight