Content creators and social media influencers are not like regular people — They have wildly different needs when it comes to work, life and especially finance. And although they have a lot of money and equity, banks don’t always offer them good terms. So, entrepreneurs are starting to seize the opportunity and open up new avenues in this market — Among them are Eric Wei and Will Kim, co-founders of Karat, who created this start-up to be a bank for content creators globally. They recently released the Karat Black Card, a card unique for content creators’ business needs. What is a Karat Card, and how could it help online content creators?
What is a Karat Card?
The Karat Black Kard is an innovative product that gives creators many benefits, such as no annual fee, no interest fees and no foreign transaction fees. But if you’re thinking about getting one of these, good luck: Karat is only issuing cards to professional social media influencers with at least 100,000 followers. Instead of looking at credit scores and debt-to-income ratios like regular banks, Karat looks at things such as follower count and revenue.
And Karat is proving to be a banking company that knows the social media industry inside out. “It’s not just the number of followers you have but [which] platforms. I would rather have 100,000 subscribers on YouTube than 1 million on TikTok because, on TikTok, it’s all algorithmically driven,” Wei said.
Jumping at the business opportunity
With social media, new types of businesses are emerging, and they function differently from traditional industries. Unfortunately, banks are being slow to adapt to these cutting-edge demands. So, companies like Karat are jumping at the opportunity to make their mark. Although they might not be the first banking platform for creators, Karat’s business model is promising. Karat already has issued cards to several social media personalities, and Wei says the model is working so far. So, don’t be surprised if you see a lot more of the Karat Black Card in the future.
