Bluesky, a decentralized social app, announced it raised $15 million in a Series A funding round, following an $8 million seed raise last year. The company is experiencing significant growth, partly driven by users migrating from X (formerly Twitter) due to recent controversial changes. These include the modifications to the block feature and allowing third parties to use public posts to train AI models. Over the past month, Bluesky has gained around 3 million new users, bringing its total user base to about 13 million.
Originally incubated within Twitter, Bluesky was part of former CEO Jack Dorsey’s vision for the future of social media, though it is no longer affiliated with him. Dorsey stepped down from the startup’s board earlier this year, but many of the platform’s core principles remain intact. Much like Mastodon, Bluesky’s open-source AT Protocol is decentralized. This means that individuals can create their own social servers and apps, while developers and the public have transparency into how the platform is built and evolves.
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Bluesky plans to use this new funding to further grow its community, enhance trust and safety measures, and support its developer ecosystem, called ATmosphere. In addition, the company will begin developing a subscription model offering premium features like higher quality video uploads and profile customizations, such as avatar frames and color themes. However, Bluesky has made it clear that its approach to subscriptions will differ significantly from X. The platform won’t adopt a “pay-to-win” strategy where subscribers gain advantages like increased visibility or exclusive verification marks, a feature criticized on X.
The Series A funding round was led by Blockchain Capital, with participation from Alumni Ventures, True Ventures, SevenX, and others. While the presence of a crypto-focused investor has raised some concerns, Bluesky reassured users that it is not shifting toward a web3 or cryptocurrency-based model. CEO Jay Graber, who has experience in the crypto space, confirmed that neither the Bluesky app nor the AT Protocol will involve blockchain technology or cryptocurrency, emphasizing that the platform will not “hyperfinancialize” the social experience through tokens, NFTs, or similar mechanisms.
