B2B marketing is entering a new era in which influence is no longer concentrated in traditional media, search engines or advertising platforms. Newsletters, podcasts and social networks are becoming important places where technology buyers discover products, form opinions and follow industry experts. Astute is building infrastructure for this changing landscape, helping B2B companies find the right creators and turn those relationships into measurable marketing channels.
Fresh Capital for Astute
Astute has raised $1.2 million in an oversubscribed pre seed funding round alongside the launch of its new platform.
The round was backed by Flyer One Ventures, Silicon Gardens, Marathon Fund and Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator, together with a group of strategic angel investors.
Founded by Vida Stanić and Abhishek Manikandan, Astute is developing software designed to help B2B companies manage partnerships with creators across newsletters, podcasts and social media.
The company believes B2B marketing has traditionally depended heavily on advertising, public relations and search engine optimisation. As audiences increasingly spend time on independent media channels, Astute sees an opportunity to bring the partnership infrastructure that has developed around consumer influencer marketing into the B2B market.
Building a New Media Infrastructure
Finding relevant creators can be difficult for B2B companies because the market is highly fragmented.
Millions of independent newsletters, podcasts, social profiles and other media channels attract specialised audiences, but businesses often lack the tools to identify which creators are genuinely relevant to their products.
Astute is designed to bring discovery, outreach, campaign management and measurement into one platform.
Its technology uses two AI agents that approach the partnership ecosystem from different sides.
One operates as a talent manager for creators, helping handle administrative work associated with brand partnerships. The other functions as a new media manager for B2B companies, helping businesses discover relevant creators, develop partnership strategies and manage campaigns.
AI Powered Creator Discovery
Astute’s platform monitors more than one million creator posts every minute, according to the company, looking for conversations around businesses and their competitors.
The resulting data can be used to identify potential partnerships based on where relevant audiences are already engaging with particular companies, products and topics.
Instead of relying entirely on manual research, marketing teams can use the platform to discover creators and identify opportunities for collaborations.
Those opportunities can include editorial coverage, interviews, podcast appearances, advertising campaigns and event partnerships.
The objective is to make creator discovery and relationship management more systematic, particularly for B2B companies that may not have dedicated teams focused on the emerging creator economy.
Measuring Creator Marketing
Astute is also focused on proving whether creator partnerships generate meaningful business results.
Its platform tracks campaign performance through metrics including impressions, conversions and brand visibility.
The company is also monitoring visibility within AI powered search and discovery systems, reflecting a broader shift in how customers may discover companies as generative AI becomes increasingly important.
Astute argues that creator generated content could become more influential in these systems because AI tools increasingly use online content, recommendations and discussions to help users discover products and companies.
Why B2B Is Next
Founder and CEO Vida Stanić believes the shift already visible in consumer marketing is now reaching B2B.
For years, B2B companies built awareness through advertising, PR and SEO. But audiences are increasingly following individuals and specialist communities on platforms such as LinkedIn, X, podcasts and newsletters.
That creates a new distribution opportunity for technology companies, particularly as AI makes it easier to build and launch competing products.
As product development becomes faster, Astute believes distribution, credibility and audience ownership will become increasingly important competitive advantages.
From Partnerships to Brand Building
Astute’s longer term ambition extends beyond helping companies arrange individual creator campaigns.
The company wants to help B2B businesses establish stronger brands, build credibility within specialised communities and develop audiences of their own.
The latest funding will give Astute resources to develop its platform and expand its role in the emerging B2B creator economy.
By combining AI powered discovery with partnership management and performance measurement, Astute is betting that creator relationships will become a core part of how the next generation of B2B companies build awareness, trust and distribution.