Nas Academy, a Singapore-based online learning platform for the creator economy, has bagged $12 million (INR 100 crore) in funding led by existing investor Lightspeed, Pitango, BECO Capital, FTX Ventures and Nikhil Kamath, according to a Social media post by the founder on Wednesday.

A total of $23 million was raised by the company, after it raised $11 million in July 2021 led by Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Founded in 2020 by Palestinian-Israeli video creator, Nuseir Yassin, better known for his social media channel, Nas Daily. Nas Academy provides online classes and digital tools for creators to help them build audiences and communities, as well as monetise their content. The platform has catered to 200,000 students and it has over 15 million followers on social media, according to its website.

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The company is also backed by TechAviv Founder Partners, 500 Global, Graph Ventures, as well as angel investors like Oyo CEO Ritesh Agrawal and Coinbase’s president and COO Emilie Choi. Yassin started his career as a content creator in 2016 when he began making a one-minute video every day for 1,000 days.

Today, Nas Daily Facebook’s page has 21 million followers while his Youtube channel has 8.89 million subscribers. Last year, Nas Academy was criticised after it posted an online course involving the Filipino tattoo artist Whang-Od Oggay.

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The global creator economy is valued at about $13.8 billion on the back of rising social media penetration, according to Statista. There are about 200 million creators right now thanks to platforms like Youtube, TikTok, Instagram, and Twitch. And with 4.2 billion social media users today, the industry is expected to see more creators every year.