News

David Dobrik’s ‘Dispo’ App Reportedly Eyeing Series A Funding Round At $100 Million Valuation

Dispo, the still-in-beta photo-sharing platform founded by YouTube megastar David Dobrik, is reportedly eyeing a Series A funding round that would value the buzzworthy app at $100 million.

The Information reports that Dispo is in talks with venture firms Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Benchmark, and others about potential equity stakes. While the size of the round has yet to be disclosed, The Information notes that Dispo’s post-money valuation could reach $100 million or more.

Dispo CEO Daniel Liss declined to comment.

Subscribe to get the latest creator news

Subscribe

In October, Dispo raised a $4 million seed round led by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian through his nascent Seven Seven Six venture firm. Other participants in that round included: Unshackled Ventures, Shrug Capital, Weekend Fund, members of the Vlog Squad, Latin World Entertainment’s Sofia Vergara and Luis Balaguer, The Chainsmokers, Roivant CEO Vivek Ramaswamy, Lime CEO Wayne Ting, Knowable CEO Warren Shaeffer, Brud CEO Trevor McFedries, Pizzaslime co-founders Matt Hwang and Stove, and Seatgeek executive Ian Borthwick.

Dispo, which started its life as an Instagram account and then became a camera app, currently exists as a social network that mimics the experience of taking and developing photos on a disposable camera. The company has said its aim is to restore authenticity to social media.

The platform launched a 10,000-person, invite-only beta test last weekend, and notes on its Twitter

profile that an Android version of the app is currently in the works. Forbes reports that users can capture photographs directly on the app — without the use of any editing tools or filters, save for a back-facing camera flash — but must wait 24 hours for them to appear in feeds. And in yet another feature inspired by disposable cameras, users can share their photos to public albums called Rolls — so named for rolls of film.

Forbes reports Dispo has also recently tendered two new hires: Byte founding designer Michael Shillingburg, who will head up visuals for the app, and former Raya executive TJ Taylor, who has been appointed VP of community.

Though it’s still early days for Dobrik’s brainchild, the app is already garnering substantial acclaim from certain early testers — and even numerous comparisons to photo-sharing forebearer Instagram. In some ways, Dispo feels like a direct challenge to Instagram, given that it prizes patience and authenticity over the careful curation and editing that happens on the Facebook-owned platform — which has also faced a slew of criticism from creators in recent weeks for a move in which it opted to crack down on the repurposing of content between TikTok and its own TikTok clone, Reels.

Share
Published by
Geoff Weiss

Recent Posts

Have you heard? It’s science time, college football on YouTube, and “copium” for the dictionary.

Each week, we handpick a selection of stories to give you a snapshot of trends,…

7 hours ago

Oh Canada! YouTube’s nine-project creator programming slate takes it north of the border.

YouTube didn't just use the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) to premiere new projects helmed by creators. It…

9 hours ago

What if livestreamers could do product placement without real products?

Live content drives sales. From street hawkers of ancient times to QVC hosts to lightning-fast,…

9 hours ago

After working with Congressional reps, the Creators Caucus heads to the Senate

What can creators accomplish when they lobby the U.S. Senate? We're about to find out.…

10 hours ago

Whatnot says its new terms include “the lowest commission rates in the industry”

Whatnot just made a compelling offer to its community: The more they sell, the bigger their…

1 day ago