Influencer marketing and social media management platform Later announced Friday it acquired Mavely for $250 million.

Mavely has a network of more than 120,000 creators who the company says drove more than $1 billion in gross merchandising volume for more than 1,400 major brands, including Nike, Anthropologie, Lululemon, Macy’s, Old Navy and Adidas.

Later said in a release announcing the deal that the addition of Mavely will help marketers by enabling the measurement of full-funnel impact and measurable ROI, while simultaneously helping creators maximize their earnings.

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Influencer firms need data, AI to compete with large agencies

eMarketer expects influencer marketing spending in the U.S. to reach $9.29 billion in 2025, up 14.2% year over year. At that growth rate, influencer marketing will outpace both digital and social media ad spend growth in the U.S., although the share of the spend is significantly smaller.

During the summer of 2024, larger advertising agencies made moves into the influencer marketing space, most notable with Publicis Groupe acquiring Influential.

Unsurprisingly, data and AI are at the center of these acquisitions. Like most modern marketing channels, influencer marketing generates a lot of data. Those who can generate and analyze the data quickly and effectively stand to benefit. 

AI can help marketers choose the right influencers, identify audiences and analyze the results of campaigns.

At the time it was acquired by Publicis, Influential said its AI-powered platform had 100 billion data points and included 3.5 million creators.

Later says its AI predictive analytics will now leverage first-party performance data from Mavely’s network of more than 120,000 creators.

Mavely was previously owned by Rhyz Inc., a subsidiary of Nu Skin Enterprises. Later made the deal thanks to a strategic investment from Summit Partners.