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Decentralized social app Bluesky announced on Thursday that it has raised a $15 million Series A round, following its $8 million seed raise last year. This funding comes as Bluesky sees increased growth, in part from X users who are troubled by recent changes to the block feature, as well as the move to allow third parties to train AI on users’ public posts. Within the last month alone, Bluesky has added around 3 million new users, bringing its total user base to about 13 million.
Bluesky was initially incubated inside Twitter as former CEO Jack Dorsey’s vision for what the future of social media should look like. But the social network and developer of the open source AT Protocol is no longer affiliated with Dorsey, who left the startup’s board earlier this year. Still, many of the initial goals for Bluesky remain consistent: like Mastodon, Bluesky’s AT Protocol is decentralized, meaning that individual people will be able to set up their own social servers and apps, and people outside of the company have transparency into how and what is being developed.
“With this fundraise, we will continue supporting and growing Bluesky’s community, investing in Trust and Safety, and supporting the ATmosphere developer ecosystem,” Bluesky’s blog announcement reads. “In addition, we will begin developing a subscription model for features like higher quality video uploads or profile customizations like colors and avatar frames.”
The Bluesky team has been quick to tell users that this paid tier will not be like X, where subscribers get exclusive blue check marks and algorithmic up-ranking, making their posts more visible.
“The way twitter did subscriptions was basically a blueprint for how bluesky shouldn’t do them,” Bluesky developer Paul Frazee posted. “‘Pay to win’ features like getting visibility or having a bluecheck because youre a subscriber is just wrong, and ruins the network for everyone.”
The Series A round is led by Blockchain Capital with participation from Alumni Ventures, True Ventures, SevenX, Darkmode’s Amir Shevat, and Kubernetes co-creator Joe Beda. The presence of a crypto-focused firm might alarm skeptics, especially since CEO Jay Graber used to be a software engineer for a crypto company, Zcash, but Bluesky has proactively assured users that the company is not pivoting to web3.
“Our lead, Blockchain Capital, shares our philosophy that technology should serve the user, not the reverse — the technology being used should never come at the expense of the user experience,” Bluesky said in its announcement. “This does not change the fact that the Bluesky app and the AT Protocol do not use blockchains or cryptocurrency, and we will not hyperfinancialize the social experience (through tokens, crypto trading, NFTs, etc.)”
Amanda Silberling is a senior writer at TechCrunch covering the intersection of technology and culture. She has also written for publications like Polygon, MTV, the Kenyon Review, NPR, and Business Insider. She is the co-host of Wow If True, a podcast about internet culture, with science fiction author Isabel J. Kim. Prior to joining TechCrunch, she worked as a grassroots organizer, museum educator, and film festival coordinator. She holds a B.A. in English from the University of Pennsylvania and served as a Princeton in Asia Fellow in Laos.
Send tips through Signal, an encrypted messaging app, to (929) 593-0227. For anything else, email amanda@techcrunch.com.
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