gen.video acquires Lionize to Unlock Full-Funnel Creator Commerce with AI
- Jessica Thorpe
- 1 hour ago
- 4 min read
As the creator economy converges in Anaheim for VidCon, we’re excited to announce a major milestone: gen.video has acquired Lionize.ai, the AI-driven platform built to automate influencer discovery and recruitment.
With this acquisition, gen.video strengthens its position as the go-to solution for video-powered commerce blending intelligent creator discovery with measurable retail outcomes. We’re building a creator-commerce flywheel that drives performance for both brands and creators across TikTok, Instagram, Amazon, Walmart, Shopify, and more. Lionize.ai quietly began sourcing and contracting influencers using their AI Agent, Lilly for the last two years for brands and agencies of all sizes. Their software takes in basic campaign information about the brand, target audience, desired content and puts together the outreach strategy for you. From there the system will instantly match creators from their database and send an invitation to them to consider the campaign.
Unlike many marketplaces where you are working with the same recycled creators. The Lionize platform is the first AI powered influencer search engine with a vetting process looks at 20+ different attributes across creator details, audience demographics, and content style and format before recommending to the brand. Lionize streamlines sourcing, recruiting, contracting, managing, tracking, reporting and paying influencers.
Responsible and safe because it's sourced by tech, verified by humans.
The AI powered recruitment has helped save hours searching for creators and budget, allowing you to reinvest more into your campaign.
“Together, we’re building the most comprehensive system for creator collaboration and content performance. This is about more than automation—it’s about helping brands work with trusted creators in ways that are faster, smarter, and more accountable to results.”— Jessica Thorpe, CEO, gen.video
As the investment in creator and influencer marketing continues to grow, so do the pressures to properly measure and justify the investments. For the better part of a decade, gen.video has focused on helping brands track, measure and report against performance throughout the customer journey.
Customers using our platform would typically find creators and then manage and measure the work in our platform. With the addition of Lionize.ai we will be able to help customers find, evaluate, contract and communicate with creators leveraging workflow automations and our very own AI Agent Lily. The best part - the company has been quietly doing this for two years and has analyzed over 30 million creator profiles.
What This Means for Brands
AI-Powered Creator Discovery & Recruitment
With access to 30M+ creator profiles, Lionize’s platform automatically pairs brands with relevant, high-performing influencers based on campaign goals and historical results—powered by their proprietary AI Agent, Lilly.
Commerce Intelligence, Built-In
Integrated retail and affiliate tracking shows how influencer content drives real sales—across Amazon, Walmart, TikTok Shop, DTC Shopify sites, and more.
Faster Workflows, End-to-End
White-labeled, collaborative workspaces simplify approvals, manage content rights, and produce actionable reporting. One login, one team, one powerful system.
“We tested influencer marketing with another agency after we appeared on Shark Tank, but the process was cumbersome, and the results didn’t justify the cost. We moved back to Lionize because everything was easier,” said Robert Peck, CEO of AquaVault. “Using AI to source, recruit, and manage influencers was not only faster and more efficient, but it also allowed us to build a community of influencers—at a fraction of the cost and time. We got real results, fast.”
What This Means for Creators
The acquisition also includes Creator Opportunity, a fast-growing creator platform with over 120,000 active users. Combining the affiliate and retail performance data technology from gen.video into the growing marketplace from Loinize will make matching and measuring success easier and faster for everyone involved in paid partnerships.
Designed to help creators grow their influence and income, the platform is the first of its kind to offer paid placement ads - letting creators be promoted directly to brands, just like a Google Ad. As creators take control of their own business and talent managers look for an edge we expect this feature to be even more powerful than it already has been for creators to get seen and hired for brand deals.
Creators on the platform can:
Browse and apply to campaigns for free
Upgrade for premium placement and early access to top-tier brand opportunities
Get seen first by brands looking for new voices
“It’s not just another creator portal. Creator Opportunity is giving us real access to brands that value long-term relationships,” said Connor “Pugs” Flannery.
Why This Matters
From the launch of partnrUP to the integration of the earlier acquisition of Bounty (the Shopify UGC Video app) and now Lionize.ai, gen.video is assembling a strategic suite of tools for the future of the creator economy.
By connecting discovery, content creation, collaboration, and attribution into one seamless experience, we’re building a better platform — where content earns trust, creators get rewarded, and brands get real results.
Want to learn more about Lionize.ai? Book a demo.