How Influencer Startup OTH Network Pays Creators With Free Products

• There’s a new card from OTH Network that influencers swipe to redeem products and services.
• The influencer-focused fintech platform uses artificial intelligence to match brands and creators.
• After creating the sponsored content, the influencers can spend the payment in person at the company.

There is a new book of influence at restaurants and retailers to leverage products and services.

The card is powered by OTH (“on the house”) Network, an influencer-focused fintech platform that uses artificial intelligence to monitor content created for brands and match creators with marketing offers. Influencers use the OTH Network app to gather offers from local businesses. Then, after creating sponsored content, they can spend the added payment on their personal account with the company.

The closed platform has a waiting list, to which influencers must apply by filling out questions such as number of followers, content category and location. Once accepted, the creator will receive a black and gold card (like a loyalty card) that they will personally use to redeem products and services.

For example, Sushi Bar in Miami, Flowrbombr Skincare in Los Angeles and Footnanny Nail Spa in Beverly Hills have partnered with OTH for influencer campaigns.

Co-founders Maximiliaan Van Kuyk and Ketan Rahangdale started the company in 2020 and in September raised venture capital funding from Innovate Ventures, according to Pitchbook.

In a way, OTH is part of a familiar practice in the world of influencers: giveaways. Brands will often send influencers free products or services with the hope or expectation that they will post about it on social media. But OTH brings a new twist to this practice by trying to simplify the process by using an AI-based app and giving it an exclusive feel with a physical card.

“We see influencers opening about 10 packages a day and putting them on social media,” Van Kuyk said, referring to traditional influencer gifting practices. “But it’s super inorganic.”

Van Kuyk told Business Insider that the platform currently has more than 3,000 creators and more than 90,000 global apps for creators. In the US, it’s available to creators in cities like Miami, LA, Chicago, Las Vegas and New York, with plans to expand. The company started in hospitality and then expanded into wellness, beauty and fashion.

“We are extremely diligent about only letting the best creators into the cities we operate in,” said Van Kuyk.

Influencers using the platform include Roz Model (15 million Instagram followers), Montana Tucker (3.2 million Instagram followers), Kat Graham (9.7 million Instagram followers) and Matt Staffanina (3.7 million followers Instagram).

Creators must have at least 10,000 Instagram followers to be considered, and for now, OTH rarely accepts creators below 100,000 followers, Van Kuyk said. But he added that the platform plans to expand into micro influencer categories.

“We’ve made a few exceptions to that, just because some retailers enjoy it, but for the most part that’s where we’ve focused,” he said. “We 100% recognize that space and will move into that space over time. Maybe we’ll launch a micro influencer strategy product that will be a little bit separate and have different rules around it. But as a startup, we have to stay focused on what our strengths are.”

How OTH Network structures its partnerships

Typically, influencers on the platform are asked to create two pieces of content, such as an Instagram or TikTok story or reel, that feature themselves and the restaurant or product. They upload the content to the OTH app and the platform’s AI technology checks the quality of the content.

Once the content is approved, the influencer can post it and the company can then use that content in their own marketing channels.

Van Kuyk said the platform makes money by charging merchants, but declined to expand on its business model and fee structure.

Using AI and other third-party systems, OTH screens its applicants for bots, fake followers and overall engagement. Brands care about a creator’s audience, brand safety and whether the creator fits the right aesthetic, Van Kuyk said.

Once accepted, the influencer is asked to jump on a call, which is part of an interview process with the company’s creative team.

OTH is not associated with a bank. Instead, the card works more like a cashback or loyalty card, and each business uses the app to tap the card and leverage the influencer’s credit.

“That’s a direction we intend to go, to actually have a true Visa or Mastercard that influencers work with,” Van Kuyk said. “We have a serious tech team in-house that is constantly building and upgrading these things. It’s not just an agency with an app in front of it.”