Swapstack

What Swapstack does

Swapstack is a two-sided newsletter advertising marketplace founded in 2020 and headquartered in New York, with co-founders and team members distributed across Washington DC, Boston, and Hyderabad, India. The platform connects newsletter publishers — ranging from independent writers to large media brands — with advertisers seeking to reach trusted, engaged audiences at scale. Its core product is a self-serve marketplace where publishers set pricing for ad inventory (logo placements, shout outs, sponsored posts, deep dives) and advertisers browse and purchase placements directly, with all monetary flows processed through Stripe Connect. Swapstack also operates a Managed Campaigns service that handles sourcing, outreach, and deal closing for advertisers, a pre-vetted affiliate program (originally Plug & Play, rebranded to Affiliates) offering per-conversion payouts up to $67, and a Tip Jars feature that enables reader donations directly to writers.

The company monetizes purely via transaction-based take rates: platform fees on Self Service and Managed campaigns set at Swapstack's discretion, a 25% platform fee on Plug & Play/Affiliates deals, and a 10% facilitation fee on direct brand-creator partnerships. As of available data, Swapstack lists 900+ publishers on the platform collectively reaching 60M+ weekly readers with an average open rate of 40%, spanning topics including Sustainability, Politics, Engineering, Jobs & Career, Sports & Entertainment, Health & Wellness, Personal Finance, Technology, Web3, Investing, Marketing & Sales, and Startups & Entrepreneurship. Customer base is heavily long-tail on the supply side, with named mid-market advertisers and media buyers including Morning Brew, On Deck, Incremental Media, HubSpot, Bright Cellars, Felix Gray, Secureframe, Cometeers, and Unspun. The company has remained privately held, has 1–10 employees, and has no disclosed material venture funding beyond a single 2022 event with BBQ Capital listed at $0.

Name

Swapstack

Legal name

Swapstack, Inc.

Website

https://swapstack.co

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Swapstack is a two-sided newsletter advertising marketplace connecting 900+ publishers reaching 60M+ weekly readers with brand advertisers via self-serve sponsorships, managed campaigns, affiliate deals, and reader tip jars, monetizing through transaction-based platform fees.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Advertising Marketplace

NAICS

Media Buying Agencies (54183)

SIC

Services-Advertising (7310)

akta.pro primary industry

Customer Retention, Win-Back & Churn Reduction Programs (MPAAAIAH)

Keywords

• Newsletter advertising
• Advertising marketplace
• Newsletter sponsorships
• Creator monetization
• Affiliate marketing

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Platform Commission - Self Service & Managed: Swapstack charges a platform fee on transactions processed through the marketplace. For Self Service and Managed Campaigns, fees are determined per campaign and deducted from advertising payments through Stripe. Writers invoice advertisers through the platform, with Swapstack retaining its platform fee and payment processing fee.
2. Platform Commission - Plug & Play: For Plug & Play affiliate campaigns, Swapstack retains a 25% platform fee from advertiser payments. Writers earn per qualifying conversion or click as agreed with the advertiser. Payments processed monthly via Stripe.
3. Brand Partnership Fees: Swapstack charges brands a 10% fee to facilitate connections with creators. The platform enables direct negotiations between writers and brands for sponsorships, with Swapstack taking a cut to make the process efficient.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Swapstack operates a two-sided newsletter advertising marketplace that connects newsletter publishers (writers/creators) with brands and advertisers seeking to run sponsorships and affiliate campaigns. The platform offers Self Service Campaigns (where publishers list ad inventory and advertisers browse and buy), Managed Campaigns (full-service deal sourcing and execution), a pre-approved affiliate program (Plug & Play / Affiliates), and Tip Jars (reader donations), with payment processing handled via Stripe Connect.

Product overview

Swapstack is a newsletter advertising marketplace that operates as a platform connecting newsletter writers (publishers) with brands seeking to advertise through newsletter sponsorships. The platform offers four interconnected products: Self Service Campaigns (a marketplace for writers to list ad slots and advertisers to browse and connect directly), Managed Campaigns (full-service campaign management for advertisers), Plug & Play/Affiliates (a pre-approved affiliate program for quick sponsorship deals with per-conversion payouts), and Tip Jars (a reader donation feature). Swapstack charges a platform fee on transactions and facilitates payments through Stripe Connect.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Newsletter Sponsorships
• Self Service Campaigns
• Managed Campaigns
• Affiliates (formerly Plug & Play) An affiliate program where writers select from pre-vetted advertising deals with brands. Writers accept terms through a clickthrough menu without separately engaging with advertisers. Payments are based on conversions or clicks driven, with some deals paying up to $67 per conversion.
• Tip Jars A service enabling writers to collect donations and tips from readers of their newsletters. Each writer receives a link to their externally available Tip Jar page which can be placed anywhere. Readers tip voluntarily and payments go directly to the writer's Stripe account.

Quantifiable outcome

• Swapstack crossed $100,000 in Gross Merchandise Value in June 2021
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature5 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• StripecoreTechnology or IntegrationStripe is Swapstack's primary payment processing partner, integrated via Stripe Connect. All monetary transactions between advertisers and publishers are processed through Stripe, including advertising fee payments, platform fee collection, and writer payouts.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Beehiiv: Newsletter publishing platform that has launched its own ad network for newsletter monetization, directly competing with Swapstack's marketplace model by offering integrated sponsorship tools to its publisher base.
• Paved: Newsletter sponsorship marketplace connecting advertisers with newsletter publishers, operating the same two-sided model as Swapstack for email-based creator advertising.
• Substack: Major newsletter platform that has expanded into native ads and creator monetization, representing both a distribution partner (Substack publishers) and a competitive threat as it builds in-house sponsorship capabilities.

Broad incumbents

• Kit (formerly ConvertKit): Established creator economy platform with email marketing, automation, and creator monetization tools (including a commerce and sponsorship product), competing more broadly for creator revenue share.
• Mailchimp: Large email marketing platform owned by Intuit that serves SMB advertisers and creators with email campaign tools, offering sponsorship and monetization features as part of a broader marketing suite.
• Mediavine: Ad management platform serving content creators (blogs, newsletters, video) with programmatic and direct ad sales, providing an alternative monetization channel for publishers Swapstack targets.
• Ezoic: AI-driven ad optimization platform for publishers that monetizes audience via programmatic ads, representing an alternative ad-tech path for newsletter and content creators compared to Swapstack's direct sponsorship marketplace.
• Impact: Enterprise partnership management platform covering affiliate, influencer, and brand partnerships, competing for the same advertiser budgets Swapstack targets via newsletter sponsorships.

Emerging players

• PartnerStack: Partnership and affiliate management platform connecting brands with partners, with overlapping affiliate-program capabilities versus Swapstack's Plug & Play/Affiliates offering.
• SparkLoop: Newsletter referral and growth platform serving the same newsletter creator base as Swapstack, with adjacent monetization tooling that competes for wallet share among independent newsletter operators.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/SwapstackHQ
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/swapstack

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

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 Swapstack