13M Users and Growing: Our investment in Bluesky's re-imagined social network

We’ve been investors in blockchain since 2012, and have seen firsthand how decentralized technologies can reshape entire industries. Social media is no different. Like our financial infrastructure, social networks require a new fundamental infrastructure to power the next generation of products and services. Today, we’re excited to announce that we have led Bluesky’s $15M Series A.

The promise of social media was to connect us, but if we’re being honest - it hasn’t panned out as we hoped. What started as online communities has evolved into vast “digital town squares” where content is curated to provoke emotion rather than meaningful dialogue. Yet, just as in the physical world, there isn’t—and shouldn’t be—just one communal space. Perhaps the most crucial lesson of the past decade is that the Internet works best when users have the freedom to exit – when they can move to different spaces if they so choose

At its core, Bluesky is about giving this power back to users. The platform allows you to choose how your feed is curated, creating a more personalized and potentially less contentious social media experience. Your identity, content, social connections, and audience relationships are controlled by you, not a corporation, and the ability to start and join different communities opens the door to more diverse dialogue. This is critical in a world where social is increasingly AI-powered. The rapid emergence of AI tools, fueled by this vast trove of social data, opens up even more avenues for data collection and utilization - often without our full comprehension or explicit consent. 

Bluesky isn’t just about user empowerment; it’s also designed to foster a new ecosystem of applications. Bluesky is the flagship application built on top of the AT protocol, which any developer can access. It is interoperable with existing internet protocols and blockchain-based systems, opening the door for a more connected, less siloed social experience. Since its launch in April 2023, over 100 clients have been built on the AT Protocol, and users have created more than 50,000 custom feeds. And the best part of it all? By building on top of the AT protocol, these developers have access to Bluesky’s 13M users worldwide.   

When you first meet Jay Graber, CEO, it’s evident she’s driven to take on systems burdened by centralized power. Her background spans activism, blockchain development, and social networking - forming a unique perspective to tackle modern day social challenges. Jay and her team bring a combination of pragmatism and idealism to building a decentralized system that can scale to billions of users. 

With this investment, we're investing in more than a product but rather a vision of what social infrastructure could be. A future where users own their identity and data, developers can innovate freely, and networks are as diverse as we are. 

The future for Bluesky includes expanding their go-to-market efforts, building out their product roadmap with new features like subscription-based profile customizations, and further engaging with their growing developer community, all while maintaining their commitment to a free and accessible platform. Our investment in Bluesky’s mission reflects our belief in the power of decentralized technologies to reshape the internet. It's time for social networks to evolve and put users first; we believe Bluesky is leading the way.

Sign up for Bluesky here.