Astute raises $1.2M to connect B2B companies with newsletter, podcast, and social creators

Astute has raised $1.2 million in an oversubscribed pre-seed round to build an AI-powered platform connecting B2B companies with the independent creators increasingly shaping what business audiences read, watch, and buy.

The funding comes as newsletters, podcasts, LinkedIn, X, and other creator-led channels are taking a bigger role in how companies reach customers. Astute is betting that a shift already underway in consumer marketing is coming next for B2B.

Flyer One Ventures, Silicon Gardens, Marathon Fund, and Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator backed the round, along with a group of angel investors.

In an email to TechStartups, lead investor Flyer One Ventures said Astute “is building the first B2B ‘new media’ company. It can connect B2B companies with newsletter, podcast, and social creators, build the strategy, and lock in the partnerships.”

That “first” claim comes from Astute and its investor, but the problem the startup is attacking is easy to recognize. The media business has splintered across millions of independent channels, leaving B2B marketers trying to find creators, reach them, negotiate partnerships, track campaigns, and figure out whether any of it worked.

“For years, B2B marketing relied on ads, PR, and SEO. But audiences have moved to new media channels – newsletters, podcasts, LinkedIn, X. In direct-to-consumer space, that shift turned influencer marketing into one of the biggest line items in the budget. B2B is next”, said Vida Stanić, Founder and CEO of Astute.

Two AI agents, one bet on B2B distribution

Astute is approaching the problem with two AI agents sitting on opposite sides of the creator marketplace.

One acts as a talent manager for creators, handling partnership administration for newsletter writers, podcast hosts, and social creators. The second works as a new media manager for B2B companies, monitoring more than a million creator posts per minute, according to Astute, to identify company and competitor mentions.

From those signals, the system builds a creator strategy and helps secure editorial placements, interviews, podcast appearances, advertising, and event collaborations. Astute says customers can then track impressions, conversions, brand scores, and visibility across AI search engines.

The pitch goes beyond automating influencer outreach. Astute sees creator content becoming part of the discovery layer that influences both people and AI agents. If more purchasing decisions begin with AI-generated recommendations, getting a company mentioned across credible independent sources could carry value far beyond a newsletter or podcast’s original audience.

That thesis comes from firsthand experience. Stanić previously led growth at Fluidstack, where she worked during a period in which the AI infrastructure company went from $2 million to a $2 billion valuation in less than a year. Before starting Astute, she had experienced the tedious side of creator outreach herself, searching Substack for contact information and pitching creators manually.

Her co-founder, Abhishek, brings the other side of the marketplace. An Oxford University graduate and former machine learning engineer at The Trade Desk, he built an engineering audience on YouTube that generated more than 15 million views.

“There is no better team to be building this company,” said Vital Laptenok, general partner at Flyer One Ventures. “Vida has been the marketer who needed this and could not buy it. Abhishek has been the creator on the other end of the table.”

Astute is entering a market where B2B companies already spend heavily to reach buyers. The question is whether creator partnerships can claim a meaningful share of budgets long dominated by search, advertising, events, and traditional PR.

Consumer brands have already answered that question with billions of dollars. Astute is betting B2B companies will follow.