VNA Lakshman
August 8
What began as an attempt by a group of young Kerala creators to solve their own problem of unreliable online income has grown into Buy Me a Coffee, one of the world’s prominent platforms for creators to earn directly from their audiences.
The company was founded by Malayalis Jijo Sunny, Joseph Sunny and Aleesha John. Jijo and Joseph, who are brothers, hail from Malappuram, while Aleesha is from Kozhikode. The founders are now based in London, while a significant part of the company’s operations has been handled from Kerala.
The idea emerged from the founders’ own experience as online creators. Jijo and Joseph had worked on blogs and other internet projects and depended partly on advertising revenue. The founders were once reportedly living on around $500 a month generated from their creative work.
They realised that advertising revenues and algorithms were unpredictable and that creators needed a simpler way to build a direct financial relationship with their audiences.
The solution was deliberately uncomplicated: instead of asking followers to enter into elaborate subscriptions, a fan could simply “buy a coffee” for a creator as a small gesture of appreciation.
Launched around 2017-18, the concept subsequently expanded far beyond one-time contributions. Creators can now receive individual payments, establish monthly or annual memberships, publish exclusive content and sell digital products and services through their own shops.
The company makes money by charging creators a 5 per cent transaction fee, while creators retain 95 per cent, excluding payment-processing charges. There is no compulsory monthly platform fee. Buy Me a Coffee says its service is used by more than two million creators.
The company was also selected for Y Combinator’s Winter 2019 batch and has received backing from Y Combinator and payments company Stripe. Y Combinator currently lists the London-based company as active with a team of around 30.
The scale of the business is significant. A 2024 report on the founders said transactions worth about $50 million were passing through the platform annually. The figure represents the total value of transactions processed through the platform rather than Buy Me a Coffee’s own revenue or turnover.
As a privately held company, Buy Me a Coffee does not publicly disclose audited annual revenue figures. Independent estimates have placed its annual revenue at roughly $5 million to $5.5 million, though these should be considered estimates rather than officially reported financial figures.
From its Kerala roots to becoming a global creator-economy platform, Buy Me a Coffee has built its business around a remarkably simple proposition: enabling people who appreciate creative work to directly support the person producing it.
