All eyes are on Poparazzi, the new photo sharing app that will reportedly hit a $135 million valuation in a Benchmark-led funding round.
The Marina del Rey startup rose the App Store ranks quickly after officially launching its platform earlier this week. According to tech reporter Eric Newcomer and a report by Forbes, Benchmark's investors beat out Andreessen Horowtiz to lead the Series A. And the company is on its way to closing between $15 and $20 million in capital.
Neither Benchmark nor Poparazzi could not immediately be reached to comment.
TTYL founders Alex and Austen Ma pitch their brand as the less self-obsessed social media platform. Or as the company calls itself, "The Anti Selfie Selfie Club."
Instead of setting up your own profile to posting candid shots and selfies, users share pictures of each other. The app promises users will still have control over what's shared, meaning they can take down anything posted of them.
"We built Poparazzi to take away the pressure to be perfect," the company said in a blog post on Monday announcing it's now free to download for iOS.
A handful of photo-sharing startups have tried pulling users from Instagram. David Dobrik's disposable camera app Dispo boasted a similar mission to Poparazzi's — stop obsessing over posing for the perfect picture. But a month after hitting a reported $200 million valuation, allegations of sexual assault against Dobrik's former vlog colleague emerged. The company lost its top investor and Dobrik stepped down.
The Ma brothers introduced their platform in beta to some 10,000 users a few months ago, according to the blog post. Users have shared over 100,000 photos since. By the time it launched to the public, the startup had amassed thousands of followers and fans on TikTok, where it eventually unveiled its App Store link.
It seems like everyone wants to get their hands on David Dobrik's new photo app Dispo — investors included.
Days after launching a beta version of the platform, the Los Angeles startup was also in talks with investors including Andressen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital and Benchmark to raise a Series A round likely to value Dispo at $100 million, if not more, a source familiar with the talks confirmed. The news was first reported by The Information.
The startup co-founded in 2019 by YouTube personality Dobrik and Natalie Mariduena raised $4 million last October in a round led by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian's venture fund, Seven Seven Six. Celebrity investors like The Chainsmokers and Sofia Vergara, and Lime's CEO Wayne Ting, also joined in.
Last weekend, the app picked up new momentum when an updated version launched for 10,000 invite-only users and created a buzz in Japan "overnight."
The splashy debut is a testament to 24-year-old Dobrik's hunch that his Gen Z fanbase is eager to embrace a different type of photo-driven app — one that isn't hinged on instant gratification like Instagram or Snapchat. He got the idea watching friends pour over how they looked before taking pictures at L.A. parties.
Dispo's app operates like a plastic disposable camera. After capturing images using their phone cameras, users have to wait 24 hours until their photos "develop." But that app isn't just another platform for taking pictures, like Huji or VSCO. Its newest function lets users post their pictures through Rolls, like rolls of film, that other users can view from the app.
Ahead of a potential Series A, the company has also been growing its team. TJ Taylor, former executive of the dating app Raya was named VP of Community and Michael Shillingburg from the TikTok-adjacent app Byte was hired to work on design.
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On this week's episode of Office Hours, you'll hear from VC legend Bill Gurley, a general partner at Benchmark. Based in Silicon Valley, Bill is famously known for investing early in trailblazing companies including Uber, GrubHub and Zillow — the company I co-founded and led for 10 years.
This is the first time I've had a guest on twice, and that's because Bill is so full of dense, rich insight when it comes to startup culture, tech and investing — dot.LA's sweet spot.
You'll hear us discuss marketplace-based companies, how work-from-home will accelerate business opportunity and why startups — though they might be attached to their autonomy — should pick up the phone when a big company calls with interest to acquire. Plus, hear his insightful and frank take on big tech and antitrust.
"The one thing that's very obvious to me about Google...is they're very willing to use their power...they're offering you partnerships that suck...and you're tempted to do them, because of the market power." — Bill Gurley
Want to hear more episodes? Subscribe to Office Hours on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio or wherever you get your podcasts.
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