On the surface, it\u2019s fairly notable that a consumer company such as Atly has raised money in the current climate, with the lion\u2019s share of its $18 million cash injection coming just five months ago. But the gargantuan elephant in the room here is how, exactly, does Atly plan to monetize?<\/p>\n

According to Maslansky, Atly is not generating any revenue itself yet, but some of its users are already earning by \u201cgating their community\u201d to paid members. And this is where it sees some revenue potential, by charging the community managers themselves for tools to help monetize their maps.<\/p>\n

So far, Maslansky said that some users have \u201cfeature-hacked\u201d the platform by setting their maps to \u201cunlisted,\u201d and then offering private links to users who pay to join \u2014 this may be through PayPal or Patreon. And it\u2019s this behavior that Atly is looking to capitalize on by introducing subscription-based communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cCreators will be able to charge for access to subscription-only maps, generating revenue for both Atly and the community manager,\u201d Maslansky said. \u201cWe also plan to roll out more features focused on giving creators additional ways to monetize their maps in a seamless and native experience.\u201d<\/p>\n