When most people think about the creator economy, they aren’t thinking about hardware. Yet creators are heavy users of cameras and other video production gear. That may explain why  webcam maker Opal Camera has gained a following among creators and managed to raise money during last quarter’s funding drought.

In October, the three-year-old company announced a $17 million Series A led by Founders Fund and including investments from YouTubers Casey Neistat and Marques Brownlee and TikTokers Charli and Dixie D’Amelio. Only four other creator economy startups raised larger rounds last quarter, according to The Information’s newly updated Creator Economy Database. 

Opal Camera never pitched itself to investors as a creator economy startup, said Veeraj Chugh, its co-founder and CEO. Many of its customers are knowledge and remote workers, he added. 

“We’re not a canonical creator economy startup in that what we’re doing doesn’t beget new creators,” Chugh said in an interview. But the webcam “is something that creators resonate with already.”