Sam Blumenthal

As gaming stars have attracted a wider range of brand sponsorships in recent years, more female gamers are receiving brand sponsorships too, said Neto. “A lot of work is still needed for more women to have the recognition that they deserve and for the gaming space to be a safe and empowering space for them,” she said.

“That was the moment we realized that livestreaming was going to change everything,” Yuan said. “We were literally dealing with hundreds of customers, just three of us, addressing each customer’s sizing concern and questions.”

Because ecommerce is such a big market, there have been many attempts to do pieces of what Swaypay is going. There are platforms and agencies like Tribe that match influencers with brands, and there’s a growing number of alternative payments solutions that offer customers a different way to pay at checkout. No one currently does both, and that’s... See more