Influencer marketing has long struggled with one elusive question: does it actually work? With its new EdgeAI engine, Later—the influencer marketing platform trusted by millions of creators and global brands—believes it finally has the answer.
Unveiled today, Later EdgeAI is being billed as the industry’s first AI-native intelligence layer purpose-built for enterprise influencer marketing. Drawing on what the company calls the richest influencer dataset in the world, EdgeAI aims to make every creator collaboration as measurable—and predictable—as a paid search campaign.
From Guesswork to Growth Engine
The scale of Later’s dataset is staggering. EdgeAI is trained on:
- 16 million creators
- Millions of social posts, generating 136 billion annual impressions
- Over 1 billion Linkin.bio transactions
- $2 billion in verified influencer-driven purchases
That historical depth gives EdgeAI the ability to forecast campaign performance, recommend creators with data-backed confidence, and quantify results across every stage of the funnel.
“AI is only as good as the data it is trained on,” said Justin Withers, Chief Product Officer at Later. “With Later EdgeAI, your brand gets its own dedicated engine that learns from your goals, past campaigns, and performance outcomes. It evolves with your brand, delivering faster outputs, smarter creator matches, and stronger business outcomes.”
Built-In Intelligence, Not Bolted-On Buzzwords
While rival platforms are racing to slap AI badges on limited datasets, Later claims its approach is deeply integrated. EdgeAI powers the company’s entire platform ecosystem—from discovery to measurement—while continuously learning from each activation. It’s less of an add-on, more of an operating system.
That integration extends to Later’s services division, where human strategist teams combine EdgeAI’s forecasts and benchmarks with real-world cultural fluency and long-term creator relationships. The hybrid model—machine precision with human context—is central to Later’s pitch for enterprise brands.
“They integrated seamlessly into our business,” said Devon Santelman, Associate Manager of Brand Experience at General Mills, which partnered with Later on a recent U.S. brand launch. “They proactively identified new opportunities to enhance in-market performance. It was a full-service mindset powered by data.”
The Enterprise Standard for Influencer Marketing
With the launch of EdgeAI, Later is positioning itself as the de facto enterprise benchmark for influencer marketing—akin to how Salesforce or HubSpot became synonymous with CRM.
“Later EdgeAI marks the next era of influencer marketing,” said Scott Sutton, CEO of Later. “For the first time, brands can run influencer programs with the same dependability, scalability, and proven results they expect from established marketing channels.”
The company says EdgeAI will power everything from creator discovery and suitability scoring to ROI modeling and spend optimization—effectively turning the art of influence into a measurable, repeatable science.
The Bigger Picture: AI Meets Influence
Later’s announcement lands amid an industry-wide shift toward performance-driven influencer marketing. As AI redefines creative industries, brands are demanding greater accountability and return on investment from their influencer spend.
By combining first-party transaction data, campaign performance history, and predictive AI, Later is betting that influencer marketing’s next phase will look more like data science than brand storytelling.
EdgeAI follows Later’s recent launch of AI-powered Brand Suitability Insights, part of a broader push to automate and de-risk influencer strategy for large organizations under increasing scrutiny to prove marketing ROI.
The message is clear: influence is no longer immeasurable—it’s modelable, forecastable, and financially accountable.
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