Retro, a photo-sharing app built for close friends, has raised more than $21 million in Series A funding, according to an SEC filing. The startup, founded by former Instagram engineers Nathan Sharp and Ryan Olson, is now valued at over $100 million. The funding closed in December but was only spotted recently.
Retro started in 2023 as a personal photo journal. It now lets users privately share photos of their week with friends, create shared albums, view recaps, and relive old memories. The app runs on subscriptions instead of ads, and has been downloaded about 7 million times, with in-app spending up more than 460% in the past 180 days.
π The Backstory
Retro is part of a wave of apps fighting back against feeds stuffed with creators, algorithms, and AI-generated content. Co-founder Nathan Sharp says people will always want to see more of their actual friends.
Instagram and TikTok push whatever the algorithm chooses, not what your friends post. Retro goes the other way: tiny, private, and personal. Investors are betting that after years of noise, people will pay for a quiet place to share their real lives with people they love.
π― Why It Matters
If you are tired of ads, strangers, and algorithm feeds, apps like Retro offer something different: sharing life only with real friends. It shows social media does not have to be loud to survive.
Retro, a photo-sharing app built for close friends, has raised more than $21 million in Series A funding, according to an SEC filing. The startup, founded by former Instagram engineers Nathan Sharp and Ryan Olson, is now valued at over $100 million. The funding closed in December but was only spotted recently.
Retro started in 2023 as a personal photo journal. It now lets users privately share photos of their week with friends, create shared albums, view recaps, and relive old memories. The app runs on subscriptions instead of ads, and has been downloaded about 7 million times, with in-app spending up more than 460% in the past 180 days.
Retro is part of a wave of apps fighting back against feeds stuffed with creators, algorithms, and AI-generated content. Co-founder Nathan Sharp says people will always want to see more of their actual friends.
Instagram and TikTok push whatever the algorithm chooses, not what your friends post. Retro goes the other way: tiny, private, and personal. Investors are betting that after years of noise, people will pay for a quiet place to share their real lives with people they love.
If you are tired of ads, strangers, and algorithm feeds, apps like Retro offer something different: sharing life only with real friends. It shows social media does not have to be loud to survive.