Led · Series B · Oct 2024

MeWe is a privacy-first social network launched in 2016 that offers ad-free feeds, no targeting, and tools for groups and user control. The platform reports more than 20 million users, 700,000+ interest groups, and over 1.1 million users on-chain via the Frequency blockchain. MeWe is available on iOS, Android, and desktop in 20+ languages across 200+ countries. Over the past year the company has been migrating users to the Frequency Layer 1 blockchain and integrating the Decentralized Social Networking Protocol (DSNP). MeWe plans further Web3 product development, AI integration, rollout of a native token, and targeted user-acquisition efforts. The company has opened a Series B round and announced an initial $6 million investment to accelerate those initiatives. MeWe is a social network engineered to respect personal privacy and avoid algorithmic manipulation, enabling authentic relationships and user control of feeds. It offers a free service available in 20 languages and a paid premium tier that provides extras such as cloud storage and custom emojis. The platform's global membership spans North America, Europe and Asia, with members divided roughly equally between U.S. and international audiences. Users have created over 600,000 interest groups on the service. MeWe emphasizes rejecting business models that exploit member data and gives users full control over their newsfeed and content. The company intends to use new funding to optimize the benefits of social media, maintain its privacy-first stance, and expand its global footprint. MeWe is a privacy-by-design social network and chat app led by founder and CEO Mark Weinstein, based in Los Angeles, CA. The platform offers private 1:1 and group chat, private and open groups, disappearing content, a custom camera with GIF creation, live voice and video, next‑gen voice messaging, secret chat with double‑ratchet encryption, and a personal social cloud. MeWe is available worldwide in eight languages on Android, iOS, and desktop. The company plans to use the new funding to support engineering of the social network and to develop an enterprise product, MeWePRO. The article reports the company has no ads and no spyware as part of its product positioning. Financially, the company has raised a total of $10M to date following the latest round. Sgrouples, Inc., the Mountain View, CA-based developer of MeWe, offers a social network and chat app that emphasizes privacy by eliminating ads and tracking. MeWe includes a custom camera, disappearing content, next-gen voice messaging, encrypted secret chat, a personal social cloud, multiple/custom group profiles, private and open groups, animated GIFs and 700+ emojis. The service is available on iOS, Android and desktop. Sir Tim Berners-Lee serves as a MeWe advisor. The company intends to use the new funding to expand usage among millennials globally. As of the round the company had raised $4.8M to date and was valued at $20M. Sgrouples is a multi-platform, privacy-centric, all-in-one social network that lets individuals and organizations connect and share with the people and communities they care about. The service emphasizes user control through a Privacy Bill of Rights: members own their content, personal information is kept private, and there is no spying, tracking, or stalking. Sgrouples makes it easy for members to allow or deny access to any content they post and promises to email users if policies change and provide options to download content and delete accounts. The company has raised $1.8M in seed funding to date (a $1.2M Series Seed II plus a $600k Series Seed I in June 2013). Management said the team “oversold” the round and selected investors who share its privacy-focused mindset. The company anticipates a future round of $15M–$20M.

Led · Equity · Feb 2015

The Future Project is a nonprofit that uses an award-winning model to inspire young people to discover the power within themselves to fulfill their dreams and change the world. The organization mobilizes young people to build their futures and the future of the country. The article describes TFP as one of the fastest-growing non-profits in America. McCourt Global made a transformative $10 million investment to help TFP meet national demand for its model. McCourt Global will serve as TFP's strategic partner and provide counsel, resources, and operational support as the organization scales.