Slingshot, a company providing business and financial infrastructure for creatives, announced the completion of its $2.2M pre-seed round. The Los Angeles-based startup is dedicated to helping creatives focus on their craft by providing them with the tools and support they need to effectively manage their operational and administrative needs.
As the global creator economy rapidly expands and evolves, Slingshot aims to holistically support independent creators and artists through all facets of running a creative business. The company’s business infrastructure platform centralizes creatives' finances in one place for their oversight and control while also offering automated financial tooling and bookkeeping, spending cards, and creative resources. Slingshot’s smart deductions and distinct legal model also help members save a large percentage of their revenue, which they can utilize to further grow and scale their businesses. Moreover, Slingshot notably offers its members access to traditional employee benefits such as healthcare and retirement plans, which are not typically as easily accessible to independent or freelance creators.
CEO and Founder Sanil Chawla, a Forbes 30 Under 30 lister, initially noticed that the business infrastructure in creative industries was either outdated or nonexistent, particularly in the music and creator spaces. This lack of support, alongside all the technical and tedious hurdles that come with running a business, leads to such creatives losing large percentages of their income to missed deductions and professional services, or being forced to borrow infrastructure from companies like record labels and MCNs at a massive cost.
“We want creatives to get back to doing what they truly love,” Sanil says. “They should be able to run and grow their business with complete control and confidence without having to spend countless hours on busywork like bookkeeping and legal paperwork.” Slingshot is rapidly gaining momentum in the space, already supporting a significant number of clients that include independent musicians, creator agencies, creative business managers, and content creators.
With the newly secured funding, Slingshot is poised to expand its offerings by developing new products to support creators in additional aspects of their careers. “We would love to comprehensively support artists far beyond their business management and finances,” CEO Sanil Chawla says. “We're excited to continue scaling Slingshot and help creatives across every industry and medium spend less time on paperwork and accounting, and more time making art, music, content, and culture that enriches all of our lives.”
