Lapse, the social app that lets users form groups and collaborate cross-groups just raised $11 million in a seed funding round led by Octopus Ventures and GV.
The app is different to other social photo apps in that users can, for example, take collective rolls of 36 photos that are only shown to the group.
To date, Lapse has raised $12.4 million in funding.
When it launched in September 2021, 10,000 users joined the app for a beta testing round and another 150,000 joined a waitlist for membership.
Given the high level of interest it was only a matter of time before Lapse would attract a larger audience.
“Lapse is a next-generation private social network, launched at a time when consumers are fundamentally rethinking their relationship with traditional players,” said Matthew Chandler, manager at Octopus Ventures. “With Lapse, the consumer is no longer the product. This dramatic shift in mentality enables users to communicate freely in private groups, and to provide in-the-moment images of their lives. The product design also means users no longer have the social pressures of portraying themselves a certain way and are instead encouraged to be authentic, which has a profound impact on the way we communicate. We are incredibly excited to partner with Dan and Ben as they build the modern platform for image-based memories.”
It seems Lapse fills the gap that social apps like Instagram and TikTok are leaving – a community-curated feel. While TikTok and co suffer from plenty of toxic content provided by single moderators or creators, the idea with Lapse is that social interactions are more meaningful because they’re restricted to groups. It’s a bit like audio app Clubhouse in that sense. Only participants on Lapse have more equal weighing in terms of their group membership.
The app was founded by brothers Dan and Ben Silvertown who travelled to Vietnam together and shared a camera to document their experience.
Lapse is based on the same principle – users take photos together rather than individually.
The app is still in beta mode as of right now, but usage is already pretty decent with 15% of those downloading the app also using it.
