- David Dobrik’s new social media platform with cameras, Dispo, was launched last week.
- The app is already planning a $ 100 million evaluation for Series A, four months after its seed run.
- It recreates the experience of using a disposable camera, requiring users to wait to see the photos.
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Before the iPhone, there was the disposable camera, which required you to wait days to develop your photos, only to find that half of them were blurry.
Well, Generation Z is bringing back the disposable camera experience, and a new social media platform could raise $ 100 million for that, according to three people close to the company.
YouTuber David Dobrik’s social media platform, Dispo, raised $ 4 million in its October seed round, which was led by Seven Seven Six, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. Other investors include Weekend Fund, Sofía Vergara and The Chainsmokers.
When the app launched last week, the demand for invitations to the Dispo beta app skyrocketed. People asked for invitations on Twitter, reflecting how Twitter has become a marketplace for Clubhouse invitations. CEO Daniel Liss told Insider that the app reached 3 million downloads before reaching its limit. The app will be reopened to new members “soon,” he said.
With the unexpected increase in users, sources said the company was being “flooded” with deadlines for its Series A financing round and forecasting a valuation above $ 100 million – just four months after raising its seed round. .
The sources did not share details such as how much money Dispo can raise, and the details may change as discussions are ongoing. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because these discussions were still private. The lectures involve Andreessen Horowitz, Benchmark and Sequoia, according to Kate Clark of The Information.
The app recreates the experience of using a disposable camera – without editing or filters – and requires users to wait until 9 am the next morning for the photos to “reveal”. They can then share the photos publicly or add them to private rolls shared with just a few friends.
Why the app touched the key
Dispo is the response to Gen Z’s call to “make Instagram casual again,” according to Gaby Goldberg, an avid user of Dispo and an analyst at Bessemer. The popular phrase calls for an end to the elaborate photo sessions and editing behind Instagram photos and a return to improvised snapshots of people’s lives.
Like a real disposable camera, once a photo is taken on Dispo, it disappears until it is “developed”, which encourages users to capture the photo, but then turn their attention to the moment, Goldberg said.
Dispo “has less to do with image quality and more to do with the feeling behind it,” added Goldberg.
Sarah Holmes, an associate at Unshackled Ventures who led the company’s investment in Dispo, said that authenticity particularly appealed to Generation Z.
“The Zs are authentic in an almost aggressive way, so I really think they love the focus on living their life without editing and in real time,” said Holmes.
Liss said the goal is to create a photo-sharing app that encourages users to stop focusing so much on the photo and keep users’ attention in real life as it happens.
“Other apps use photos to focus on shopping, messaging or entertainment,” he said. “We are about to get off your phone and enjoy the photo again.”
But for an application designed to keep users away from their phones, Dispo is quite effective in getting them back.
“It was brilliant to make the photos unfold overnight. This is really maximizing the number of daily active users,” said Goldberg.
The application has already proven to be dynamic, with users experimenting in groups that anyone can add. Users passed handwritten notes, created rolls to “bake” other members, and even signed up for jobs at Dispo.
“An intern signed up, adding me to a private list that included a photo of his cat recommending him for work,” said Liss.
Although the Dispo team, which has only six employees, does not have the bandwidth to hire the user now, Liss said he was confident that “there will definitely be an interview in the future”.