Patreon acquires livestream platform Moment

Patreon, which connects creators with paying fans, has acquired Moment, a livestream platform for events and ticketed experiences, Patreon CEO Jack Conte tells Axios.

Why it matters: The deal is part of a broader push by Patreon to provide services that strengthen creators' connections with their communities, in addition to facilitating payments between them.

Catch up quick: Moment, formerly called Moment House, was co-founded by CEO Arjun Mehta, COO Nigel Egrar and CTO Shray Bansal in Los Angeles in 2019.

• The firm helps creators host live-streamed, ticketed experiences for their fans, like concerts, live podcast recordings and interviews.
• The startup has raised $13.5 million, according to Crunchbase. Investors in its $12 million Series A round included Halsey, UTA Ventures, Zaiko and Forerunner Ventures.

Details: Patreon plans to fully integrate Moment's products and capabilities into its suite of services and tools for creators, Conte says.

• The deal, which closed Monday, will bring all of Moment's employees to Patreon.
• Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Conte says the acquisition did not require regulatory approval, which is typically required for any U.S. deal above roughly $100 million.

Between the lines: Live-streaming is one of the top requested features from Patreon's creators, Conte says.

• "Live experiences really tighten communities" and "make folks feel like they're a part of something bigger than themselves," he says. They also serve as "yet another form of revenue" for creators, in addition to memberships and commerce, he adds.

The big picture: The evolution of social media toward viral content trends has made it harder for creators to build communities with their supporters on social networks.

• That dynamic inspired Patreon to build and acquire services beyond paid memberships, Conte says.
• In the past few years, the firm has introduced new commercial features, including commerce products and community chat spaces between fans and creators.

Flashback: Patreon was co-founded by Conte and the firm's chief technology officer Sam Yam in 2013.

• Its $155 million raise in 2021 valued the company at $4 billion. The company has raised more than $400 million to date.
• After rapid growth during the pandemic, Patreon laid off 80 employees, roughly 17% of its workforce, last September.
• Conte declined to answer whether Patreon is profitable or how much revenue it earns annually.

Be smart: Moment is the fourth product acquisition Patreon has made in the past few years, but it's unique in that it doesn't focus on memberships.

• Patreon acquired Subbable, a subscription-based funding site for artists, in 2015. It bought Kit, a platform that helps creators bundle merchandise with their subscriptions and Memberful, a subscription membership platform, in 2018.

What to watch: Asked whether the firm is eyeing an IPO soon, Conte says he thinks it makes sense for Patreon to become a public company one day, but "we have no plans to do that right now."