When she bought back Gushcloud in 2019 – one of Singapore’s first influencer marketing agencies, which she’d sold four years prior to a Korean buyer – Althea Lim had had a lightbulb moment.
“I had a lot of job offers, but I just wasn’t interested,” recalls Althea. Since childhood, church values had shaped her love for people who impact others’ lives. This later became a passion to support content creators, who “bring so much joy to everybody”.
“Who’s going to take care of them when they’re old?” she asks. “If I had kids, and they wanted to be YouTubers, how would that be sustainable?”
Since the buyback, these questions have been at the heart of what sets now-global Gushcloud apart. With a focus on female creators in the parenting, wellness, skincare and beauty verticals, Althea plans to harness audience and income data of some 120,000 partner influencers to guide investment into content slates, grow personal brands large enough to command events and merchandise (think Skims), and provide strategic monetisation, saving and retirement support.
This lets creators better grasp income trajectories and career longevity, says the co-founder, who earned her first million promoting parties and losing it in market trades. Citing statistics that six in 10 Gen Zs aspire to be influencers, and with the creator economy projected to hit half a trillion dollars by 2027, building sustainability and structure into these careers is urgent.
That’s why Gushcloud, which has a presence in 12 markets including the US and China, eyes listing on the near horizon on an American or Singapore bourse.
“I want to be big so that we can consolidate the ecosystem,” Althea says from her office in Los Angeles. “My purpose is to make (creators) sustainable, so they can influence the lives of others in a positive way.”
