The Securities and Exchange Commission has accused content monetization startup Curastory of inflating its revenue to investors and misrepresenting its true number of customers, according to documents reviewed by TechCrunch.
As a result of the SEC settlement, Curastory founder and CEO Tiffany Kelly has resigned from her position and been replaced by Dave Dickman, former CEO of influencer marketing platform Tagger.
Under Dickman's leadership, the company has begun raising capital, international expansion plans and product updates, Kelly and Dickman told TechCrunch.
The settlement agreement stipulates that Mr. Kelly will be prohibited from serving on the board or officer of any company that effectively raises capital for 10 years. TechCrunch has seen a yet-to-be-finalized version of the deal. Mr. Kelly said he agreed to these provisions without admitting or denying the charges.
Mr. Kelly remains a major shareholder and advisor, but he told TechCrunch that stepping down was really the only decision I could make just to keep the company afloat and thriving.
Mr. Kelly founded the company in 2021. Curastory, a platform that helps content creators monetize their videos, has grown to about 400,000 creators, she said. This allows advertisers to buy in-video ads from creators while tracking metrics and supporting other features like video editing.
According to Pitchbook, the company has raised about $3 million so far from investors including LightSpeed's Scout Fund, Feld Ventures, and Mindspring Capital, and is listed as participating in several accelerator programs, including the SPARK program hosted by Techstars, AMEX Ventures, and Project W.
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“It’s been a tough journey,” she admitted. As part of the settlement, Kelly also agreed to pay a fine.
Kelly told TechCrunch he doesn't know what triggered the SEC investigation. She said she received a subpoena in June and was issued a notice of violation by the SEC in January.
She wants time and grace. “It's interesting to be forced to resign and to be forced to resign,” she said. Although she still has majority ownership in the company, she said she is happy with the funding and financial ease.
She also said she was pleased to have found Mr. Dickman through an executive recruiter and was able to choose his successor. Many other ousted founders are unable to do so. She asked recruiters to look for people who were good people, wouldn't strip or sell companies for quick cash, and who understood technology.
“Early stage companies in general have all kinds of challenges. Eventually it happened. It got resolved,” Dickman told TechCrunch. He likens him and Kelly to yin and yang, having spent decades in the creative field and worked at several early-stage startups. He said she is analytical and very product-focused, while he prefers to have more of a leadership role.
“We feel like we are a good duo and complement each other to move this forward,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Dickman has already been CEO for several weeks, so changes are already being seen in Mr. Kelly. She said his fundraising materials made it to the desks of VC funds, who forwarded them to others who encouraged them to take a look at the product.
“As you can probably imagine, I don't have any experience raising money,” she said of the experiences women, especially Black women, often face when raising venture capital. “It was an eye-opener.”
Under Dickman, she hopes for a bright future for the company. Curastory already has plans to expand to Canada, Australia and the UK soon.
She said the company is working on new features to target creators on other platforms, such as Spotify Video, as well as new features to add AI to the product and make advertising technology a bit more agentic. Current video-enabled tools include YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook Watch.
We're also adding an enhanced attribution model for advertisers that eliminates the need for influencer promo codes.
“These are about immediate, short-term product, sales and globalization,” Kelly said.
Despite this shocking end as the company's CEO, she told TechCrunch, “Being a founder and CEO is one of the most humbling and rewarding experiences I think anyone can have.” She hopes to share the lessons learned and experiences with others, especially women and people of color.