Lumanu announced a new collaboration with Visa to enable fast, secure payments to creators and contractors in more than 195 countries and territories. By integrating Visa Direct, Visa's real-time global money movement network, Lumanu is extending its platform to deliver real-time payments around the world, while continuing to give brands and agencies the visibility, compliance, and spend controls they require. Lumanu has become the trusted payments infrastructure for brands like Warner Music Group, PepsiCo, Airbnb, WPP, and Keurig Dr Pepper -- powering over $1.5 billion in payments to more than 100,000 creators and contractors globally.
Despite the creator economy booming past $250 billion, the underlying payment systems haven't caught up. A recent investigation by Campaign found that up to 87% of surveyed creators have been paid late or faced payment issues, often waiting 60-180 days for money they've already earned. The report traced this to outdated enterprise payment systems, multiple layers of approvals, and "pay when paid" policies that push financial risk down the chain.
Agencies are often stuck in the middle: floating cash, managing reconciliation, and absorbing reputational hits when creators aren't paid on time. Lumanu removes those bottlenecks by letting brands fund a dedicated bank account, while Lumanu handles onboarding, tax compliance, and real-time payouts to vendors. And now, by integrating Visa Direct, Lumanu can route cross-border payments directly to creators' local accounts -- bypassing layers of intermediary banks, hidden FX markups, and multi-day delays -- so more money lands in creators' hands, faster.
