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Social-justice kumbaya version of Reddit closes after burning through $11M in funding
Imzy, a site founded by former Reddit Inc. Vice President Dan McComas and pitched as a safe-space alternative to Reddit itself, is folding up shop.
McComas posted Wednesday that despite having raised $11 million in venture capital funding, the site was shutting down. Announced in April 2016, Imzy, created by Saurus Inc., attempted to take on the “front page of the Internet” with a community forum product that was heavily moderated so as to conform with social-justice norms. It had the added bonus of offering moderators and contributors the ability to earn money via tips from other users, with Imzy taking a small cut of each tip to make money as an alternative to advertising. Clearly, as a business model, that didn’t turn out well for them.
“We are sorry to say that after nearly two years of building Imzy, it is time for us to shut down the site,” McComas wrote on a post on the site that is likely to be its highest-trafficked ever. “Some of you have been here since our launch into beta and some are brand new. We’ve loved getting to know all of you and seeing you build communities and make new friends. Unfortunately, we were not able to find our place in the market.”
Ignoring the fact that he managed to burn through $11 million in funding from CRV, Index Ventures and OReilly AlphaTech Ventures, McComas concluded that “we still feel that the internet deserves better and hope that we see more teams take on this challenge in the future.
According to TechCrunch, not all of the $11 million was apparently wasted. McComas, who was fired by former controversial Reddit Chief Executive Officer Ellen Pao ironically for being more outspoken than she was when it came to censoring free speech, apparently suggested shutting down the site before the funding ran out, hinting that the company may launch a new product in the future, presumably one that aims to be more popular than Imzy’s dismal user base peak in the five figures.
SiliconANGLE attempted to reach out to McComas on Twitter to ask about his future plans but was blocked from doing so (pictured, right).
Image: Imzy
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