Lex is a text-first social app inspired by vintage lesbian personals that operates as a community hub for LGBTQIA+ people. The product emphasizes text-only posts and local, community-oriented uses such as dating, finding roommates, selling tickets, venting, and other neighborhood exchanges. A February redesign codified a broader community focus and prompted debate as some users lamented a deemphasis on dating and hookups. The company has about 11 employees, is three years old, and ranks around No. 350 on Apple’s U.S. social networking charts, with concentrated usage in cities like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. Leadership recently shifted: co-founder Jennifer Lewis moved from COO to CEO, founding CEO Kel Rakowski became chief creative officer, and former Hinge product boss Michelle Parsons joined as chief product officer. Lex plans to use new funding to expand while prioritizing community-sensitive monetization rather than an ad-based growth model. It is already testing paid features, including charging users who want to post more frequently than the app typically allows. Lex is an MVP social app that lets users create profiles and post text-based personal ads (personals) and browse or like others’ personals without requiring mutual matches. The app launched on the App Store in November 2019 and intentionally omits in-feed photos, though users can link to Instagram and messaging is available without a match. Founder Kell Rakowski built the product from an audience that responded to curated historic personal ads, and the current team is five people with 80% cis women, 20% cis men, 80% identifying as LGBTQ and three team members of color. With the new funding, Lex plans to hire underrepresented talent in product and engineering as a hiring priority. Product roadmap items include adding clickable profile photos (not in the feed), group chat for community building, and eventually a freemium subscription model to unlock extended functionality. For now the focus is on growth and building out the app.

Total raised

$7M

Funding rounds

2

Latest round

Seed

Latest activity

Oct 2023