Lumanu and Visa join forces to fix broken creator payments

NEW YORK, Dec. 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Lumanu, the payments and compliance platform for the global creative economy, today announced a new collaboration with Visa, a world leader in digital payments, 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 money¹ 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.

Fixing the broken system behind creator payments

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 The report traced this to outdated enterprise payment systems, multiple layers of approvals, and "pay when paid" policies that push financial risk down the chain (source).

"Marketing moves fast, but Finance and Procurement has to ensure every dollar is tracked and every vendor is compliant," said Tony Tran, CEO of Lumanu. "That tension creates friction, frustration, and risk. Lumanu bridges that gap so marketers can work with who they want, when they want, while Finance keeps full control over compliance, tax, and spend controls."

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.

Driving speed, transparency, and financial empowerment

"Visa is deeply invested in empowering creators as the new face of entrepreneurship," said Mark Nelsen, Global Head of Product, Commercial & Money Movement Solutions at Visa. "Our collaboration with Lumanu brings this vision to life, making it easier for creators and small businesses to receive fast, secure, and compliant payouts globally."

"This is about fixing the foundation," Tran added. "Creators shouldn't have to chase invoices or wonder when they'll be paid. Together with Visa, we're showing brands and agencies there's a better way — one that's fast, transparent, and built for the way marketing actually works today."

Trusted by leading brands and agencies

That approach has won over finance leaders across the industry.

"We couldn't scale our talent and partnership payments without Lumanu," said Dustin Elliot, VP of Marketing Ops at Warner Music Group. "They eliminated endless vendor setup and compliance headaches, let us pay creators instantly, and gave our finance teams full transparency and control."

Mae Karwowski, CEO of Obviously (a WPP agency), added: "Traditional systems just don't work for modern marketing. Lumanu is the first platform I've seen that understands the unique needs of both Finance and Marketing. It's purpose-built for the speed, complexity, and flexibility the creative economy demands."

With this collaboration, Lumanu is setting a new standard for how creative work gets paid for: fast, transparent, and built for scale.

About Lumanu

Lumanu is building the financial infrastructure for the global creative economy. As a Payments Master Vendor, Lumanu enables brands and agencies to pay anyone, anywhere with no vendor setup, while staying fully compliant. Lumanu handles global payouts, tax reporting, vendor onboarding, and real-time spend visibility across marketing and finance. Over $1.5B has been paid through Lumanu to 100,000+ vendors. Learn more at www.lumanu.com.

¹ Actual fund availability for all Visa Direct transactions may depend on receiving financial institution, account type, region, compliance processes, along with other factors, as applicable. Availability varies by geography. Please refer to your Visa representative for more information on availability

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SOURCE Lumanu